Richard H. Nagelberg's Blog – August 2009 Archive (4)

Historically our perio treatments have focused on the bacterial origins of periodontal disease, and we have developed and utilized a wide array of treatments and adjunctive therapies combating the bugs that cause perio disease. I have spent years preaching this in my educational presentations around the country. This is still vitally important. It is now understood and accepted that perio disease is a bacterial infection starting with oral biofilm, and that periodontal tissue destruction is… Continue

Research is going on at an ever increasing pace, bringing so much new information, advancing our profession almost by the hour. Think of the endless sources of information including; online learning, print journals, electronic versions of journals such as the digital edition of Dental Economics and JADA, research portals such as PubMed, to name only a few. Excellent research is coming from the US, UK, France, Spain, Canada, Sweden, Brazil, Japan, China, Italy, Germany, New Zealand, Australia,… Continue

I think it is easier to recognize times of rapid change when looking back on it, rather than when it is occurring. We are in a period of seismic change in the dental profession. Some time in the future this will be recognized as period of major change in our knowledge and understanding of perio disease. Research is expanding knowledge so rapidly and pieces of the relationship between oral and systemic conditions are starting to fall in place. If this were a puzzle, which it kind of is, we would… Continue

Some of the patients I previously discussed here have come back for re-evaluation. The female patient with phenomenal home care and a level of gingivitis that was difficutl to explain with such excellent biofilm control, was in recently. This patient's pre-treatment DNA test came back with 5 perio pathogens at high levels. I interpreted these results to mean that if her home care were not so optimal, she would likely have full blown, generalized periodontitis. We treated her with whole mouth… Continue