Gingivitis is one of the most common oral health conditions, affecting over 47 percent of American adults 30 and older. While it may be extremely common, that does not mean it does not pose extreme health risks. Increased bacteria in the mouth also heightens the risk of tooth decay, which can lead to cavities, root canals, and even tooth loss.

Receiving treatment is vital to protecting your mouth, but did you know gum disease is also highly preventable? Explore the most common risk factors and how to address them.

Brushing Habits

There are two ways that brushing can negatively affect your teeth:

• Not brushing regularly enough increases the risk of gum disease.
• Not brushing thoroughly or long enough leads to plaque buildup, eventually affecting the gum line.

Excess bacteria inflame gum tissue, which eventually leads to gingivitis. Without treatment, this can advance to a more severe infection called periodontitis. Ensure that you follow the American Dental Association’s suggested guidelines. Brush your teeth at least twice a day for two minutes at a time using a fluoride toothpaste.

Smoking

Tobacco use increases the risk of gum disease by weakening the immune system. Without the ability to fight off bacteria, tissue becomes more vulnerable. Consider quitting smoking all types of tobacco products to lower your risk.

Crooked Teeth

Crooked teeth are harder to clean, increasing the risk of plaque buildup, tartar, and bacteria. Straightening your teeth can reduce this risk while improving your overall oral health. Your dentist can refer you to an orthodontist who can collaborate on your treatment.

Contact Kenneth Egger, DDS, for Treatment

Dr. Egger is an experienced dentist and compassionate care provider who has proudly operated Mount Pleasant Dentistry since 1996. His extensive experience has made him a skilled dentist in all areas of oral health.

Please call 989-773-3560 or submit an online form to request an appointment with Dr. Egger in Mt. Pleasant, Michigan.

Science fiction movies aside, Dr. Egger loves lasers just as much as Luke Skywalker. But Dr. Egger puts his lasers to a far more useful purpose than blasting random storm troopers, he uses his diode laser to treat various gum conditions. 

What is the diode laser? 

If you’re a science person, you probably already know this — the word laser is actually an acronym. It stands for light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation. No wonder we just call them “lasers.” Different lasers are categorized by the wavelength of the energy they produce. Dr. Egger uses the diode laser, whose wavelength is ideally suited for soft tissue procedures since it is highly absorbed by hemoglobin and melanin. This gives the diode laser the ability to precisely cut, coagulate, ablate, or vaporize targeted soft tissue. 

Uses of the diode laser 

When the gums become inflamed or infected, tissue can need to be trimmed back. This is called a gingivectomy. A gingivectomy removes and reshapes loose, diseased gum tissue to get rid of the pockets that have formed between the teeth and the gums. The laser removes any loose tissue, while simultaneously causing hemostasis (stopping the flow of blood). The laser eliminates the former problems of unruly soft tissue and blood when performing a gingivectomy. Plus, the laser gently disinfects the area while it evaporates the diseased tissue. 

Root planing and scaling are done when the gums have either started to pull away from the teeth or the roots of the teeth have hard mineral deposits, tartar, on them. Root planing and scaling cleans between the gums and the teeth down to the roots. 

While scaling and planing are still sometimes performed with dental picks, now Dr. Egger performs these procedures with a diode laser whenever possible. The laser not only makes for easier recovery for our patients, but it also reduces bacteria normally involved with the procedure. This makes the procedure safer and more comfortable. 

So, in case you thought lasers were only good for Ernst Blofeld to threaten James Bond, know that Dr. Egger uses them for a far more useful purpose. Call us at (989) 773-3560 to make your next appointment. And please remember, we’re closed on Fridays during the summer.

If you have the early signs of gum disease, where plaque and tartar have made their way under your gumline, Dr. Egger will probably opt to perform some root scaling and root planing to address the problem. With root scaling, he moves under the gumline and removes the tartar and plaque that have taken up residence. That’s followed by root planing, where he smooths the root surfaces so that the gums can adhere back down to the tooth root more easily.

From there, Dr. Egger enlists two other allies in the fight against a patient’s gum disease — Atridox and Arestin. These two antibiotic treatments help his root scaling and planing by extending their benefits for three weeks.

Here’s some more about these two treatments.

Atridox

When you have periodontal disease, your gums start to pull away from your tooth roots because of the bacterial inflammation. This creates periodontal pockets, which are perfect places for even more bacteria breeding. Even after root scaling and planing, these pockets can be a concern if bacteria linger.

Atridox is an antibiotic gel that Dr. Egger places down in the infected periodontal pockets. Once in the pockets, the gel solidifies into a waxy substance. This allows the gel to remain in the pocket and gradually release its antibiotic (doxycycline) to kill the bacteria for up to three weeks.

Arestin

Similar to Atridox, Arestin is an antibiotic that is placed into the periodontal pockets. Arestin is a powder that contains microspheres of the antibiotic minocycline. After Dr. Egger is finished with your root scaling and planing, he places the powdered Arestin into the periodontal pockets. For three weeks, the powdered microspheres slowly dissolve, killing any bacteria present.

Both Atridox and Arestin have been shown to increase the effectiveness of these treatments for gum disease. By helping keep bacteria at bay for an additional 21 days, these two treatments allow the patient’s gums to heal and begin to adhere back to the tooth roots more quickly and effectively.

Neither of these treatments requires any special attention or care by the patient.

Do your gums bleed when you brush? Do they look more red than pink? You may have the early signs of gum disease. Call Dr. Egger at (989) 773-3560 to make an appointment.

Just about everyone, except maybe Jimmy Buffett, grinds his or her teeth some times. After all, our bosses, kids, job, and other things can drive us crazy. Occasional teeth grinding, medically called bruxism, isn’t really any big deal — you have to clench your teeth occasionally when your boss is being a real idiot. The problem occurs when a person grinds his or her teeth regularly. That can create some real problems with your teeth.

Dr Egger sees the results of your grinding in cracked teeth, shortened teeth, and loosened teeth. He may need to use crowns, bridges, implants, or root canals to fix the damage done by your repeated grinding.

Why do we do it?

Although some people grind their teeth due to stress or anxiety during the daytime, more often than not it occurs during sleep. More than stress, bruxism usually has its basis in an abnormal bite or missing or crooked teeth. It can also happen during sleep apnea.

So, what’s the big deal with grinding your teeth? They’re tough, right?

Your teeth are strong, but they can be broken down by chronic grinding. Bruxism can lead to fracturing, loosening, and eventual loss of teeth. The grinding can wear the teeth down to the point where they have little value. In these cases, bridges, crowns, root canals, implants, even full dentures may be in the grinder’s future.

Severe bruxism also affects your jaws, leading to temporomandibular joint disorder. It can change the appearance of your face.

How do I know if I’m a grinder?

Because most grinding occurs while we sleep, most people don’t know they do it. A dead giveaway is a sore jaw or a dull headache when you wake up. Also, the person next to you in bed can usually hear it.

What can be done about bruxism?

The way to stop chronic bruxism is to wear a night guard. These custom-fit mouth guards are worn at night and they protect the teeth from grinding against one another, while not restricting breathing.
Are you a night grinder? If you have symptoms of bruxism, call Dr. Egger at (989) 773-3560 and let’s take a look.

Zapping Gum Problems

Seeing as it is summer and most of the movies at Celebration Cinema feature lasers blasting aliens, you may think that’s all lasers are good for. Or they’re only helpful for hitting your yardages on your rangefinder when sneaking in a quick nine at Pleasant Hills.

But not to Dr. Egger — he uses his trusty diode laser for battling enemies of your dental health.

What is the diode laser?

You probably didn’t know this, but the word laser is actually an acronym. It stands for light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation. Different lasers are categorized by the wavelength of the energy they produce. Sometimes, particularly in the aesthetic industry, lasers have brand names and that can be confusing.

For dental uses, Dr. Egger uses the diode laser, whose wavelength is ideally suited for soft tissue procedures since it is highly absorbed by hemoglobin and melanin. This gives the diode laser the ability to precisely cut, coagulate, ablate, or vaporize targeted soft tissue.

Where do we use diode laser?

When your gums become inflamed or infected, tissue needs to be trimmed back. Basically, the infected tissue needs to be removed. This is called a gingivectomy.

A gingivectomy removes and reshapes loose, diseased gum tissue to get rid of the pockets that have formed between the teeth and the gums. Instead of a scalpel, Dr. Egger often uses the laser to remove any loose tissue, while simultaneously causing hemostasis (stopping the flow of blood). The laser eliminates the former problems of unruly soft tissue and blood when performing a gingivectomy.

Root planing and scaling are done when the gums have either started to pull away from the teeth or the roots of the teeth have hard mineral deposits, tartar, on them. Root planing and scaling cleans between the gums and the teeth down to the roots.

While this was formerly done with dental picks, now Dr. Egger performs these procedures with a diode laser, as well. In root planing and scaling, the laser not only makes for easier recovery for our patients, but also reduces bacteria normally involved in the procedure. This makes the procedure safer and more comfortable.

Want to learn more about how Dr. Egger uses lasers to zap the enemies of your dental well being? Call us at (989) 773-3560. Remember, we’re closed on Fridays in the summer.

A Menu of Dr. Egger’s Most Common Services

Whether it is with or without anxiety, patients are always focused on their procedure. Maybe it’s a routine cleaning; perhaps it’s the need to have a filling placed. To keep everyone up to date, here’s a list of our most common services, treatments, and procedures at Dr. Egger’s practice.

Oral health exams: X-rays, oral cancer screenings, along with a visual examination of the teeth, gums, and jaw are involved here. We look for signs of decay, disease, misalignment, spaces, and other issues.

Prophylactic cleanings: We remove minor plaque and tartar buildup to reduce the risk of gingivitis and cavity formation. Every six months is the right interval.

Gum disease intervention: To head off gum disease, Dr. Egger usually only needs to do some scaling of the teeth. This sounds serious but is just scraping off tartar below the gum line where it builds up and begins to cause gum irritation. For more advanced cases, he uses a diode laser to remove diseased tissue and remove bacteria, and Arestin to help with healing.

Fluoride treatments & dental sealants: Usually for children, but occasionally requested by adults, fluoride helps prevent tooth decay. We apply a topical gel twice a year. Sealants are long-term plastic filling applied to the deep grooves in the molars. It can last for decades.

Dental implants: Dr. Egger is a big fan of dental implants for tooth replacement. Why? Because once they are accepted by the jawbone, implants function and look just like natural teeth. Plus, they can last the remainder of the patient’s life.

Root canals: When decay reaches the inner pulp of the tooth, it’s time for a root canal. This cleans out the interior of the tooth, removing the infected tissue and nerves and replacing it with rubber-based substance. The tooth is then usually capped. Root canals save teeth from needing extraction.

Extractions: Pulling teeth. Dr. Egger doesn’t remove wisdom teeth, but most regular extractions can be handled in-house. 

Fillings & crowns: A cavity is merely an area of decay in a tooth. Usually, routine fillings address decay before it damages the interior of the tooth. You can opt for metal amalgam or composite fillings. Crowns are what used to be called caps because they are placed atop the damaged tooth to return strength and functionality.

Dentures: Dr. Egger designs and fits full or partial dentures to replace a group of teeth or all of a patient’s teeth. Today’s dentures fit better, are more comfortable, and are easier to manage than those of previous generations.

Is it time for your regular cleaning and exam? Call Dr. Egger at (989) 773-3560 to make your appointment.

Lasers and Your Gums

Gum disease is no laughing matter, as it can be quite painful if allowed to progress to a certain point. Periodontal disease is the clinical term. It happens when bacteria gets below the gumline and eventually leads to detachment of the tooth and the gum. The American Dental Association says that three our of four Americans has some degree of periodontal disease, but that only three out of 100 people with gum disease will have it addressed before it’s too late.

Think of those odds, three in 100. That’s about what the experts give the Red Wings for winning the Cup this year! Not very good odds.

That’s a shame because if Dr. Egger sees the signs of gum disease early, odds are he can reverse the process. But not if you don’t come in for your regular twice-yearly exams and cleanings.

While early cases of gum disease are painless, there will be signs. Your gums should be pink like the color of bubble gum. If they become red that means they are irritated, which is usually a sign that plaque is getting below the gumline. This condition is called gingivitis and is a precursor to periodontitis. Also, the bacteria may get into a tooth causing decay. The bacteria will also make your breath reek.

When gingivitis is all that’s going on, things are still reversible. A trip to see Dr. Egger and better home hygiene can get things on the right track. But if you leave things, gingivitis will progress to gum disease and can cause tooth loss and deterioration of your jawbone.

Using lasers to battle gum disease

Traditional treatments for periodontitis have been pretty painful, sometimes requiring general anesthesia. People would avoid taking action, in part, because of the expected painful recovery. But Dr. Egger now uses a laser for gum disease therapy. The laser gently disinfects and evaporates diseased tissues from around the tooth and inside the gum pocket that has formed as the gum has pulled away from the tooth. Laser treatment interrupts the bacterial destruction of the tissues and bones, giving the gum pocket a chance to heal.

Dr. Egger will repeat these treatments from two to eight times to allow the gum pocket to be disease-free and start the process of the tissues reattaching to a near normal depth. Laser therapy is gentle, much less painful, and has a faster recovery time. Although surgery may still be required in more advanced cases of periodontitis, laser therapy is effective for beginning to moderate cases.

Lasers for other dental procedures

Lasers are expanding their use in dentistry to a variety of procedures: gum care, pediatric procedures, canker sore treatment, frenectomy (tongue-tie release) without anesthesia, root canals, and crown lengthening and other gum corrections.

Do you have signs of early gum disease? Don’t be afraid of the treatment. Dr. Egger’s diode laser works great with little or any pain. Call us at (989) 773-3560 to make an appointment.

Why Your Kids Have Bad Breath

You’re pretty sure your kids brush their teeth twice daily. They may even chew sugarless gum and munch on breath-freshening mints. But there are still times when their breath smells like the inside of a pair of hockey gloves (hockey players and their parents understand!).

What’s up?

Well, there can be other reasons for bad breath beyond accumulated plaque and bacteria in the mouth. There can be some other reasons that you probably didn’t know could lead to bad breath. So, before you dunk your kid in a vat of Listerine to combat his or her breath, see if the cause may be something other than oral hygiene.

Sinus infection

Want to create some bad breath? Allow fluids to collect in the nasal passages and the throat with a sinus infection. When this happens, bacteria have a party and get busy multiplying. Bad breath that can’t be remedied by brushing is the result. Ask you, child, if he or she has a sore throat or burning nasal passages, and then get them to a doctor for some antibiotics.

Swollen tonsils

Healthy tonsils should be bubble-gum pink and spot free. Infected tonsils are red, inflamed, can have white spots on them, and smell less than yummy. Bacteria can collect in the pits of swollen tonsils and create bad breath. An antibiotic should be able to address the infection, or the tonsils may need to be removed.

Dry mouth

Kids aren’t all that worried about drinking water, despite the fact that they’re running about like mad men and women. A lack of water means the mouth produces less saliva, and since part of the job of saliva is to wash away odor-causing bacteria, you know what’s coming — bad breath. This may seem like overkill, but dry mouth is not a good thing, as it can lead to tooth decay. So, encourage your kids to stay hydrated.

Decay and gingivitis

Once bacteria have signed a lease and have taken up permanent residence in your child’s teeth, decay is soon to follow. So is gingivitis (gum irritation). Once decay and oral infections have taken hold, brushing won’t mask the odor. Could be time to see Dr. Egger have a cavity taken care of.

See? Your child may not be the world’s worst tooth brusher. His or her bad breath could have other causes. To keep your kid on the right track with dental hygiene, make sure to keep your twice-yearly cleanings and exams with Dr. Egger. Call us at (989) 773-3560 to make your appointment.

Gingivitis. We’ve covered that in this little old blog of Dr. Egger’s before. But it’s always good to stay on top of gingivitis so that it doesn’t turn into full-on gum disease.

Here are the signs to watch for, along with how Dr. Egger beats up on gingivitis, not unlike the Hulk could beat up on Spiderman if he made fun of the color green.

Symptoms of gingivitis

As we’ve said before, gingivitis is an ad man’s dream. The term sounds scary. But all gingivitis means is “gum irritation.” Ooh. Let us run into the dark woods in fear!

Still, signs of gingivitis are signs that you need to pick up your home hygiene because plaque is making its way under your gums and probably is turning into tartar. That’s the road to gum disease.

Here are the signs of gingivitis:

• Changes in color— Gums should be like a big fat wad of Double Bubble Gum, nice and bright pink. They shouldn’t be red or shiny along the gum line. These signs indicate plaque or tartar has built up underneath the gums.
• Changes in feel— Healthy gums are moist to the touch and have a slightly bumpy surface. The edges taper down to lie flat against your teeth, forming the seal that keeps out bacteria. Inflamed gums are puffy and may be pulling away from the teeth. They may feel smooth, dry, and soft.
• Changes in shape— Gums should be scalloped along the edge that lies against the teeth. They should cover a symmetrical amount of the tooth roots on both sides of your mouth. When the gums start to pull away from the teeth, more of the tooth root is exposed, and this makes your teeth look longer and misshapen.
• Changes in odor— Bad breath and gingivitis go together like Dolly Parton and silicone. Plaque that you’ve left in your mouth with lackadaisical brushing and flossing is flourishing, and bad breath is the byproduct.
• Changes in spit— Your gums shouldn’t bleed. If you’re using a soft toothbrush and brushing the gums along with the teeth, there’s no reason for the little pink devils to bleed. If they bleed, the gums are telling you to wake up and take better care of them because they’re getting inflamed.

Beating down gingivitis

Dr. Egger is like the Hulk when it comes to beating up on gingivitis. Although we’ll cover the details in another blog, Dr. Egger uses root scaling, root planing, and prophylactic cleaning to show gingivitis who’s the boss.

Is it time for your next cleaning and exam? Call Dr. Egger at 989-773-3560 to make your appointment.

Does Bad Breath Mean You have Gum Disease?

Halitosis is chronic bad breath, usually caused by poor oral hygiene. If you don’t brush your teeth regularly, never floss and don’t use mouthwash, you may need to change your habits. Bad breath can be embarrassing, but it can also be managed. Don’t let bad halitosis get in the way of your social interactions.

Bad breath can be caused by something you ate such as onions or garlic. It can also be a sign of serious diseases such as tuberculosis, liver disease, stomach problems, cancer, lung infections, kidney failures and more. If you use good oral hygiene and still find you struggle with bad breath, it may be time to talk to your doctor.

You may just need to brush your teeth more often, after every meal. Floss at least once a day and carry flossing picks around with you to clean out your teeth after meals on the go. Mouthwash is a really good idea if you are experiencing bad breath. Choose a wintergreen or peppermint flavor for best results.