{"id":25915,"date":"2025-01-17T12:00:29","date_gmt":"2025-01-17T18:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.oraldna.com\/trends-in-salivary-testing\/?p=25915"},"modified":"2025-02-06T10:48:24","modified_gmt":"2025-02-06T16:48:24","slug":"saving-tooth-24","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.oraldna.com\/trends-in-salivary-testing\/index.php\/2025\/01\/17\/saving-tooth-24\/","title":{"rendered":"Saving Tooth #24"},"content":{"rendered":"

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At OralDNA\u00ae Labs, we understand that identifying and addressing oral bacteria is critical to improving patient outcomes. A recent case shared by Dr. Lee Sheldon, a distinguished periodontist, highlights the synergy between advanced diagnostics and methodical care. In his video, Dr. Sheldon detailed how he saved a severely compromised tooth (#24) for a 47-year-old patient. His approach reinforces the importance of leveraging tools like OralDNA testing to guide treatment plans.<\/p>\n

Dr. Sheldon began with the story of his patient, a woman who drove 45 minutes to his office after her general dentist recommended extracting tooth #24. She sought a second opinion, determined to save her tooth. Upon examination, Dr. Sheldon observed Class III mobility, severe swelling, and periodontal pockets too deep to probe without causing pain. “The patient was already anxious in the dental chair,” he explained, “so causing unnecessary discomfort wasn\u2019t an option.” He explained his treatment philosophy: “If a patient has a full dentition or a full arch, I want, if possible, to avoid prosthetic appliances. As soon as we go to bridges or partials or anything else, we\u2019re introducing a new variable into the system, and that variable means that it’s more difficult to clean.”<\/p>\n

Dr. Sheldon started by performing a bite adjustment. \u201cShe was banging on that tooth very hard,\u201d he said. Using a diamond bur, he ground down tooth #24 so the patient no longer put pressure on it, which helped relieve her discomfort. \u201cShe breathed a sigh of relief,\u201d he recalled, because now her other teeth could touch, and she wasn\u2019t putting pressure on this one anymore.<\/p>\n

Next, Dr. Sheldon ran an OralDNA MyPerioPath\u00ae test to assess the bacterial profile in the patient\u2019s mouth. While waiting for the test results, he prescribed cephalexin and metronidazole to address the infection. He also prescribed Diflucan for yeast infections since the patient had a sensitivity to amoxicillin. “I wouldn\u2019t ordinarily prescribe Diflucan, but the response was so unusual,” Dr. Sheldon explained.<\/p>\n

After receiving the MyPerioPath test results, Dr. Sheldon confirmed that the antibiotics chosen were effective, as the test showed the presence of red complex bacteria, indicative of aggressive periodontitis. To stabilize tooth #24, Dr. Sheldon splinted it to adjacent teeth (#23 and #25) using a composite splint. \u201cIt\u2019s like putting a cast on a broken bone,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n

The final step in the treatment plan involved performing periodontal endoscopy, or perioscopy, to thoroughly clean the root surface. “We used an endoscope to remove calculus and applied EDTA to eliminate micro-islands of bacteria,” Dr. Sheldon noted.<\/p>\n

Dr. Sheldon followed up with the patient in three months and six months, seeing significant improvement in both the patient\u2019s condition and in the X-rays, which showed bone regeneration around tooth #24. \u201cThe body wants to heal,\u201d Dr. Sheldon said. They took away the etiologic factors, splinted the tooth, cleaned the root, and observed. The body healed itself.<\/p>\n

Dr. Sheldon\u2019s case underscores critical principles in periodontal care: preserve natural teeth whenever possible, leverage diagnostics like OralDNA to personalize care, and address causative factors methodically. As Dr. Sheldon put it, \u201cPeriodontal disease is actually quite predictable to treat,\u201d and \u201cThe body wants to heal.\u201d This case highlights how combining clinical expertise with advanced diagnostics can lead to exceptional outcomes for patients. To see Dr. Lee Sheldon\u2019s full explanation, watch his video here<\/a>. You won\u2019t want to miss his detailed insights and practical wisdom!<\/p>\n

For more from Dr. Lee Sheldon, visit the IDS page of our Protocol Directory<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\u201cShe was banging on that tooth very hard,\u201d he said. Using a diamond bur, he ground down tooth #24 so the patient no longer put pressure on it, which helped relieve her discomfort. \u201cShe breathed a sigh of relief,\u201d he recalled, because now her other teeth could touch, and she wasn\u2019t putting pressure on this one anymore.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":205,"featured_media":25917,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[257,10,183],"tags":[67,76,3],"class_list":["post-25915","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-myperiopath","category-periodontal-disease","category-podcast","tag-myperiopath","tag-periodontal-disease","tag-salivary-diagnostics"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.oraldna.com\/trends-in-salivary-testing\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/IDS_Logo_main.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":false,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7W16z-6JZ","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oraldna.com\/trends-in-salivary-testing\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25915"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oraldna.com\/trends-in-salivary-testing\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oraldna.com\/trends-in-salivary-testing\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oraldna.com\/trends-in-salivary-testing\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/205"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oraldna.com\/trends-in-salivary-testing\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25915"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.oraldna.com\/trends-in-salivary-testing\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25915\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27036,"href":"https:\/\/www.oraldna.com\/trends-in-salivary-testing\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25915\/revisions\/27036"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oraldna.com\/trends-in-salivary-testing\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25917"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oraldna.com\/trends-in-salivary-testing\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25915"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oraldna.com\/trends-in-salivary-testing\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25915"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oraldna.com\/trends-in-salivary-testing\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25915"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}