Integrative Health Blog

A Key Test for Periodontal Disease

Posted by admin on Thu, Jan 03, 2013

Tom Baldwin DDS

When you are told or suspect that you have Periodontal Disease, you should know that this disease is an infection. And as any infection, the extent can be shown by both looking at a microscopic slide and thdescribe the imagee radiographs of the teeth and jaws. If the teeth are quite loose, the breath is terrible, the bleeding is extensive, and the bone loss is noticeable, then a Laboratory Culture and Sensitivity Test (C&S) should be done. This is the same way that any other branch of medicine would operate, and Biological Dentistry is no different.

Over the past few months, I have seen several patients who have advanced periodontal disease, and I took samples of their plaque and sent the samples off to the Laboratory at Temple University. When the results came back, it was clearly obvious that the antibiotics classically used to treat Periodontal infection would be ineffective because the bacteria in the patient's mouth was resistant to these antibiotics.

If the classical antibiotic treatment was done, it not only would not have eliminated the disease, it might have helped create a very dangerous "Super-Bug" from the bacteria which were resistant. This is because bacteria exist in a relationship of keeping each other under control to some extent, and killing the competing bacteria while letting the resistant bacteria grow stronger may create this Super-Bug." The result could be disastrous!

The kind of testing used at NIHA for periodontal disease is important to determine the proper course of treatment. We will do our best to give you the finest, most up-to-date, and excellent Biological Dental Care available.

 

Thomas Baldwin, DDS, is a biological dentist at National Integrated Health Associates, NIHA, a leading integrative medicine and dental center serving Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia. Dr. Baldwin treats all aspects of biological dentistry and specializes in holistic, biocompatible periodontal therapy.