We are very excited to be offering this new service, we are constantly learning and striving to advance the standard of patient care in our office. We have recently added a new procedure to your routine, cleaning care to help prevent periodontal (gum) disease.

Periodontal disease is affecting approximately 80% of adults and is a growing epidemic in our society. Focusing on understanding this disease, over the last few years dentistry has greatly increased the ability to diagnose and treat this condition. We now know that Periodontal Disease is a bacterial infection in the pockets around the teeth.

We now not only treat Periodontal Disease with the removal of mechanical irritants and diseased tissue (your normal cleaning) but are also addressing the underlying infection that causes it. With that thought in mind we recommend that all of our patients have their teeth decontaminated prior to cleaning appointments for three major reasons.

1) To reduce or eliminate bacteremias, or the presence of bacteria in the bloodstream: During the normal cleaning process your gums may bleed in some areas due to inflammation. This allows bacteria that are present in your mouth to flood into the bloodstream and sometimes settle in weakened areas of your body such as a damaged heart valve or artificial knee or hip, etc.

We pre-medicate those patients that we know have a heart condition or artificial joints with antibiotics so that these bacteria can’t cause harm to these areas. Latest research shows that these oral pathogens have now been linked to a number of other diseases such as cardiovascular disease, rheumatoid arthritis, low birth weight babies, diabetes, etc. Needless to say anything that we can do to reduce or eliminate these bacteremias reduces your risk for these disease processes.

2) To prevent cross-contamination of infections in one area of your mouth to other areas. Decontamination minimizes the chance that we may inadvertently pick up bacterial infection in one area of your mouth and move it to other areas of your mouth.

3) To kill periodontal disease bacteria and stop their infections before they cause physical destruction or loss of attachment and bone around your teeth.

The laser decontamination process is painless and normally takes about 5-10 minutes. Dr. Waked recommends that you obtain Laser Bacterial Reduction Procedure before every dental cleaning