Oral Health Care Part 2: More Scary Facts About Periodontal Disease

In my earlier post, I talked about my encounter with a great dentist, Dr. Toguchi. Not only is he an excellent dentist who believes that dental treatment should not be painful (yesss!!), but he is also a wonderful teacher who doesn’t mind spending time to educate his patients about oral health care. In my last post, I tried to warn everyone about the threat of periodontal disease that comes with aging. Well, as I was getting my teeth cleaned, Dr. Toguchi revealed to me that the third most common cause of death among elderly people (in Japan?) is pneumonia and much of that is actually caused by periodontal disease! “Whaaaat?! People can die from gum disease?!” He told me that elderly people suffer from weak muscles that inhibit them from swallowing properly. So the bacteria infecting the gums can easily go into their bronchial tube and enter the lungs. With suppressed immune systems, these bacteria could easily infect their lungs, thus causing pneumonia. Utterly shocked, I shared this scary fact with my anti-aging advisor, Dr. Andrew, who casually said, “Oh, yeah, that’s how my grandfather died. He had periodontis and the bacteria in his mouth traveled to his brain and caused brain infection …” “Whaaaat?!”

So here are the warning signs of periodontal disease:
1) Red, swollen and tender gums
2) Gums bleeding when brushing or flossing
3) Teeth getting loose
4) Pus between the gum and the tooth

The mildest form of gum disease is gingivitis where your gums swell and bleed easily. People often ignore these symptoms because there is not much discomfort at this stage. However, if gingivitis is untreated, it could advance to periodontis. Like I mentioned before, you cannot regenerate your gums and bones once destroyed so that means periodontal disease is irreversible. The best way to prevent periodontal disease is to remove that deadly plaque on your teeth by brushing. I recommend use of Sonicare with almighty germ-killer, Concool, flossing and getting your gums checked at the dentist regularly. (I will write about how to brush one’s teeth in my next post. Got thoroughly trained last time I was at the dentist.)

Because periodontal disease is a bacterial infection, that bacteria can enter the blood stream and attack any of your major organs and cause new infections. Heart disease which affects a huge percentage of our population can be prevented if you take care of your gums!!

Shinanomachi Dental Clinic Tel: 03-3341-8286 (Dr. Toguchi)
Fujimi Dental Clinic Tel: 03-3563-4022 (Dr. Hitomi Hayashi speaks English)

http://www11.ocn.ne.jp/~asunaro/