periodontal disease

A Common-Sense Approach to Diagnosis and Treatment Planning: Weekly Case Reviews with Dr. Lee Sheldon

Posted on by Lee Sheldon DMD PA
Most webinars explore new, innovative, fabulous procedures. What about the day-to-day procedures such as the new patient, the periodontal case, or the restorative case? What about the basics? • How to communicate to the patient? • How to prioritize to make dentistry within reach of the average person? • How to gain greater case acceptance? • How to remove the insurance obstacle? Dr. Sheldon brings his whole team approach to patient management and communication to his new webinar series....
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A Clinician’s Resistance to Acceptance in One Case

Posted on by Ashley Abrams DDS
When I opened my practice almost two years ago, I was introduced to OralDNA® Labs’ testing services. I believed the value of laboratory testing would provide a higher quality of care for my patients; however, I was hesitant to incorporate something new into my patient case conversation. My hesitation stemmed from a belief that my patients would think we were adding another “cost” to their treatment plan and that made me uncomfortable. I continued to practice without OralDNA® Labs testing, unti...
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Periodontal Inflammation Primes the Systemic Innate Immune Response

Posted on by Ronald C. McGlennen, MD
This week, Dr. Ronald McGlennen - President & Medical Director of OralDNA® Labs provides a review of the recently published article "Periodontal Inflammation Primes the Systemic Innate Immune Response” written by N. Fine, J.W. Chadwick, C. Sun, K.K. Parbhaker, N. Khoury, A. Barbour, M. Golberg, H.C. Tenebaum, and M. Glogauer. This article appears in the Journal of Dental Research, October 2020. The complete article can be accessed here. Enjoy the VLOG and please feel free to share any...
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Case Study: Class II Periodontitis

Posted on by Sue Baughman RDH
  Background: The patient is a 54-year-old female who presented with the chief complaint “My gums bleed when I brush, there are possible cavities and I don’t like the tooth crowding.” Her last dental visit was about 6 years ago. There is a family history of diabetes, cardiovascular disease, stroke and cancer. The home care consisted of manual tooth brushing 1-2 times per day with occasional antibacterial mouth rinse. During the clinical assessment, it was discovered that several amal...
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A Progressive Oral Wellness Center in Rural America

Posted on by McCreight Progressive Dentistry Team
In our rural practice (McCreight Progressive Dentistry) in Northwest Colorado, we see periodontal disease on average in about one of every two patients, or around 46%. This is representative of the CDC statistic as posted in the May 2015 Journal of Periodontology. Whenever we read these statistics, we are puzzled. In an industrialized nation where home care tools and dental technologies are readily available, how can there be so much disease? Here are some measures (newer technologies) we ha...
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AAP Classifications Simplified: Part 2

Posted on by Kelly Young BSDH
Last week, establishing a stage for your patient was highlighted. Click HERE to review. Once you have established the stage of your patient, the grade needs to be determined. The three grades are A, B or C. The grade indicates the speed of progression and the quality of treatment response. In order to establish the grade, there are 3 factors to consider: Direct evidence – Evidence of bone loss over the past 5 years. (You may not have access to previous records, but this highlights the v...
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AAP Classifications Simplified: Part 1

Posted on by Kelly Young BSDH
How the heck are we supposed to implement the new American Academy of Periodontology (AAP) Staging and Grading Periodontitis classifications into practice?  This new system seems so complicated, right??  Actually, it can be simplified and once that is done, the new system is extremely valuable!  As hygienists, we know that periodontal disease is multifactorial.  It is affected by systemic health, habits, occlusion, and more.  We know that it is just as much about the host response as it is abo...
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Microbiology 101

Posted on by Kimberly Babauta, RDH, BS, BCPA
MyPerioPath® is a laboratory test widely used by health care professionals to screen for pathogens that cause both periodontal and systemic infections.  The rich report provided to clinicians includes an easy to read histogram showing the types and quantities of 11 specific periodontal pathogens detected from a simple saliva sample.  Two frequent questions about MyPerioPath®’s histogram will be discussed in this week’s blog.  First, what is the full name of each bacteria listed on each repor...
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The Insights Provided by Salivary Testing

Posted on by Richard H. Nagelberg, DDS
Without salivary testing we have no way of knowing the cause of the periodontal disease in the patients under our care. The insights provided by salivary testing include: Identification of the causative bacteria Therapeutic endpoint Risk assessment Outcomes assessment Risk of recurrence Appropriate antibiotic Incorporating the information from the salivary bacterial test into the periodontal patient’s treatment plan enables personalized care. Forget the one-size-fit...
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I Don’t Need That, We’re Already Getting Good Results

Posted on by Richard H. Nagelberg, DDS
The enemy of optimal patient care is complacency. Why would anyone settle for good results when optimal results are so easily achieved?   Put yourself in your patient’s place in the exam chair: would you then want only good enough? Patients trust their dental professionals to provide the voice in decision regarding their care. If given the choice between practicing blindly, with no information about the specific bacterial cause of their individual case of periodontal disease, and having the ...
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