June 2010 Newsletter

How would you like to be “cavity-free” for life? We are taught in dental school to fill the holes in teeth. What if we could stop the process that caused this tooth decay in the first place? When you go to your physician with a bacterial infection, you are given antibiotics to treat the infection. We all accept this as the best form of treatment for an infection. Dental decay is also an “infection” that affects the teeth. At our office we are treating this infection by eliminating the bacteria and keeping the oral environment in a healthy state so that the infection will not re-occur. 

 Cavities form in teeth as a result of a bacterial infection called dental caries.  This infection takes place when the normal healthy bacteria in the mouth are replaced by acid-producing bacteria.  This shift in bacteria is primarily caused by two things:

·         Transmission: this infection is contagious!  You can be infected by someone through exchange of saliva

So treating the infection not only involves agents able to dissolve the biofilm community in order to access the bacteria, but also using treatment that is able to affect the whole range of bacteria present. 

We have a revolutionary mouth rinse called “Cari-free” (www.cari-free.com) that will eliminate the bacteria that causes the decay and then will keep your mouth at a healthy pH balance so that the infection cannot take hold again. Truly making you “cavity-free” for life!  

Another product that is effective in keeping a healthy oral pH balance is xylitol. Xylitol is a sweetener found in many fruits and vegetables and is even produced by the human body during normal carbohydrate metabolism.  Xylitol is typically manufactured from birch trees or other natural xylan-rich sources. Clinical studies conducted in populations with both high and low cavity incidence show that supplementing a normal diet with regular consumption of xylitol (e.g. sweetened chewing gum > 2 times/day) is of clear benefit to the teeth.