Category: Periodontics
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What Is Oil Pulling?
Charcoal toothpaste, sucking on lemons, placing aspirin in your mouth – there’s never a shortage of new tips and tricks in dentistry. There’s always going to be changes and claims in medicine as well as new methods to treating disease. It’s our job as practitioners to question these ideas and find research that supports or…
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What Are Dry Sockets?
If you’ve ever had a tooth taken out, your dentist has more than likely discussed with you the possibility of dry sockets. Dry sockets are nothing to mess around with, and we are going to talk about just what they are and things we can do to avoid them – as well as discuss risk…
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My Dentist Told Me That I Have Gum Disease?
What does that mean? Think of each of your teeth like individual trees. Each one has a large trunk and many branches, consider this to be the crown of your tooth, the white part that sticks out above your gum line. A tree also has an extensive root system below the ground. Think of this…
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Treating a Pregnant Patient
When is it safe to treat a pregnant patient? Pregnancy is divided into trimesters – the first trimester is between 1-12 weeks, the second 13-20 weeks, and the third 20-40 weeks. It is safe to treat a pregnant patient during all three trimesters. Of the three trimesters, however, the second is the best period to…
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How to Diagnose Periodontal Disease
‘Under-treatment may lead to disease progression, over-treatment will lead to loss of attachment’ Dr. David Dunivan, A.T. Still Missouri School of Dentistry and Oral Health The severity of periodontitis is measured by the amount of clinical attachment loss¹ (CAL). A CAL of 1-2 mm is categorized as slight, 3-4 mm is categorized as moderate, and…
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The Evolution of Periodontal Disease
What is gum disease? There are multiple types of gum disease, but we will focus on two of the most common – gingivitis and chronic periodontitis. Gingivitis is a plaque-induced disease of the gums where inflammation is present. Plaque is a material that is composed of bacteria as well as food debris, also known as…
Teeth & Chiefs 