Hygiene Tribune Middle East & Africa Edition

hygiene tribune Dental Tribune Middle East & Africa Edition | November-December 20156D < Page 4D bacteria along with the harm- ful bacteria.  Within several hours after using an antibac- terial mouthwash or breath freshener, the surviving .1% of the bacteria remaining in the mouth will repopulate the full level of harmful bacteria that was present in the mouth be- fore the product was used. This indiscriminate destruction of bacteria creates ongoing im- balances in the microflora that naturally inhabit the oral cav- ity. Antibacterial mouthwashes and breath fresheners simply mask the malodor and can nev- er effectively address the issue on the causal level.  Oral probi- otics are natural antagonists to the malodor-creating bacteria, quickly colonizing to create a healthy balance of micro flora and resulting in longer lasting, truly fresher breath . The use of benign, commensal probiotics could therefore of- fer a complementary and more long-term treatment strategy to combat bad breath. Whiter Teeth A natural by-product of oral probiotics is a low-dose of hy- drogen peroxide. As this good bacteria is replenished daily, it creates a gradual teeth whiten- ing effect with the full benefits oflongcontacttimes,delivering 24 hour per day coverage of bal- ancing and brightening.   Yel- lowing, surface discoloration or staining are all results of lifestyle choices: tobacco use, coffee, tea, beets, etc. Anything that stains will affect the color of the teeth. Tooth enamel is porous, filled with microscopic cracks and pores that hold onto staining products. Commer- cial tooth whiteners employ extremely high levels of harsh, Seeing teeth everywhere (while trying not to) ByPatriciaWalsh,USA I can always tell when I’m in great need of a vacation: I start to dream about teeth. There are more subtle signs that often escape me. The first of which is the emergence of the robotic hygienist. She lurks inside of me and, fortunately for all those involved, doesn’t rear her ugly head too often. The other is the OCD hygienist. The one who doesn’t enjoy the human variety of her cowork- ers and sees them only through OSHA-colored glasses. To survive the reality of a den- tal office for decades, one has to care for both the body and the mind. They say, “Dentistry maims its survivors.” This can be true of both mental and physical well being if we don’t take an adequate amount of time off. I’ve been labeled a C.E. junkie in the past. But this vacation week, I wanted nothing to do with teeth. Big teeth, little teeth, interestingly odd teeth or perfect teeth: They were not on the vacation agenda. But I was wrong. I took a cab from my hotel in the French Quarter of New Orleans to the cruise ship terminal. My taxi driver, Dimitri, told me he was from Croatia. “That’s different,” I thought. Not that I expected him to look like Satchmo, but I was unaware of NOLO being the melting pot that it is. It reminded me of the time I was on the banks of the Thames in London. It was the day of the Lord Mayor’s parade. A beautiful majestic spectacle full of all the pomp the Brits do so well. What surprised me was the music. It was one Dixieland jazz band after another. Who knew the English were so fond of traditional American music? And this was long before Lon- don had a mayor born on U.S. soil. While my cab was at a stoplight on Bourbon Street, a young man crossed the road in front of us. The only thing odd I noticed about him was his plaid under- garments hiked up to his waist. His jeans seemed to sit, precari- ously balanced, farther south. I thought that style had come and gone. “Look at him,” Dimi- tri said with his heavy Eastern European accent. Dimitri held his hand up and dramatically waved it around a bit. “Just look at him. All his tattoos, prob- ably cost $400 a piece, and yet he is missing a front tooth. Just stupid. He cannot fix his front tooth?” I wanted to say, “You’re preaching to the choir.” But instead I uttered my newly learned Southern expression, “Um- Hmm,” with a big empha- sis on the “Hmm.” A few days on the cruise ship and I was starting to feel like my old self again. I eagerly awaited climbing Mayan pyra- mids in Belize with my new- found zest for life. Halfway up a hill to the Xunantunich ruins, my guide stopped to pull a leaf off a tree and asked, “Anybody know what this is? Here, taste and see if you can tell me.” It was allspice, but nobody in the group had guessed it. The Mayans used this leaf to cure toothaches. They tucked it be- tween the gum and the tooth to relieve pain. Hmmm. While I wasn’t so sure about the pain part, it certainly may have had some antiseptic qualities to it. On we went to the pyramids. Duringtheexcavation,remains had been found entombed mid- way up, in the front of the struc- ture. What the archeologists were surprised to discover was that the deceased were Guate- malan. According to my guide, this was established by analyz- ing the teeth. Dead slaves or prisoners perhaps? The Gua- temalans had a diet that con- sisted of different grains than those commonly used in Be- lize. The guide speculated that it was the wear and tear on the teeth that distinguished them as Guatemalan. Hmmm again. I had a vague recollection of ar- cheologists doing an analysis of a sacrifice victim’s calculus at a Mayan site. It enabled them to determine the origin of the remains based on diet. Part of me wanted to raise my hand and say, “’Scuse me, ’scuse me,” like that annoying apple pol- isher we all once sat next to in grammar school. But I was on vacation. And I wondered, “Was there no escape from teeth for me this week?” When I returned home, I decid- ed to write about my exciting trip and all of its dental anec- dotes. Just as I started, I noticed a ladybug land on my keyboard. I remembered my grandmoth- er telling me it was good luck to have a ladybug land on you (in spite of the fact that the bug’s house was on fire and her chil- dren all gone). I looked up the origin of the children’s rhyme. I found out more than I want- ed to know. And what I found made me wince and smile at the same time. Ground up la- dybugs were once used to cure toothaches. They were placed inside the cavity. Seems I don’t know everything there is to know about teeth after all. And there is no escaping the won- derful joy of our odd little niche of knowledge. Ready for a recharge by escaping all things dental, Hygiene Tribune Editor in Chief Pa- tricia Walsh, RDH, keeps encountering teeth throughout her vacation, even while explor- ing Mayan ruins in Belize. Photo/Patricia Walsh Patricia Walsh, RDH, BS, has been a clinical dental hygien- ist for more than 20 years. She is a graduate of the Fones School of Dental Hygiene, University of Bridgeport in Connecticut. She has an ex- tensive history in interna- tional volunteer work in oral health, including being in- strumental in the creation of The Thailand Dental Project, a volunteer program focused on providing educational, preventive and restorative dental care to children in a tsunami-affected region of Thailand. Contact her at pw- alshrdh@uberhygienist.com. About the Author chemical hydrogen peroxide which can actually damage the tooth and create a roughness on the tooth’s surface. This in- creases the film that builds up on the tooth surfaces and in the micro cracks and is available to hold on to stains much bet- ter.   Streptococcus oralis KJ3 binds to the surface of the teeth, crowding out harmful bacte- ria by competing for the same nutrients and surface spaces. In laboratory studies, the low- dose hydrogen peroxide pro- duced by the Streptococcus oralis KJ3 created a continuous whitening benefit that did not plateau over the duration of the study. With daily use, the colo- nization of Streptococcus oralis KJ3 provides a constant and expanding population for grad- ual and continual whitening effects.  The hydrogen perox- ide metabolites of Streptococ- cus oralis KJ3 also contribute to the breath-freshening features of oral probiotics by inhibiting the growth of harmful bacteria. The decrease in these harmful bacteria results in a substantial reduction in the volatile sulfur compounds associated with bad breath.  Unlike other whit- ening products, oral probiotics are completely safe for veneers, caps and dentures. Systemic link The patient’s health and family history are sources of consider- able impactful information. A patient with a strong family his- tory of diseases and conditions such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, periodontal disease, high blood pressure, and rheu- matoid arthritis, among many others, has a potentially height- ened risk for these diseases as well. A large body of research has demonstrated several dif- ferent mechanisms of oral-sys- temic associations. One is the effect of the chronic inflam- matory properties of periodon- tal disease on various diseases and conditions. Another is the effect of the periodontal patho- gens on cardiovascular dis- eases and events, independent of periodontal disease. There is also the increase in insulin resistance from the inflamma- tory and infectious components of periodontal disease. Insulin resistance is the biggest root cause of atherosclerosis, which is the initiating event for heart attacks and strokes. Reducing the number of pathogenic bac- teria, along with the oral con- tribution to the total inflam- matory burden in the body, by consistently and effectively controlling periodontal disease can only result in better patient health. As clinicians, it is important to take these risk elements into account when evaluating a patient and developing a treat- ment plan for periodontal dis- ease. The maintenance phase of periodontal therapy, along with the effectiveness of the pa- tient’s home care, determines how long a perio patient will re- main healed. Using all the tools at our disposal, including oral probiotics, will help to optimize our patients’ oral and general health. Patients who have been sus- ceptible to health breakdown due to age related or medically induced changes can now have conservative treatment to help reverse these issues. Patients who undergo extensive dental treatment such as implants, veneers, full mouth rehabilita- tions, or even are currently un- dergoing orthodontic therapy now have a simple treatment to aid in the protection of their dental investment. The sci- ence and research on probiotic therapy for overall health and wellbeing is constantly advanc- ing in new areas and uncover- ing new benefits. The probiotic benefits for oral health are an exciting and newly expand- ing area of this type of therapy. The obvious patient demand for fresher breath is apparent. How about introducing them to a mint that not only tastes good and freshens breath, but allows for reduction in caries and peri- odontal disease? References • Dr J. J. Smith, (B.CH.D ) Den- tal Expert and founder of Cle- anition Oral Care • John Nosti, DMD, FAGD, FACE: Cosmetic case protection and oral health - Dental Town Dec 2010 • Shirley Gutkowski, RDH, BSDH, FACE: An in-depth view of oral probiotics- Dentistry IQ • Am. J. Clin. 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Hygiene Tribune Middle East & Africa Edition

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