Over the years we have been able to make some significant contributions to dentistry, but not without running into very strong resistance. One of those areas of change was in the area of periodontics. As the science evolved, we were faced with the defense that “Everyone knows” the only way to treat periodontal disease is with periodontal surgery.
That was another of the self serving and illogical conclusions promoted by organized dentistry, the American Dental Association, the American Academy of Periodontics, the Texas Academy of Periodontics, and the usual consortiums of State regulatory boards, including the Texas State Board of Dental Examiners. I can give these representatives of organized dentistry full credit for doing everything they could to protect the status quo. They were dead determined that dentistry was going to go on forever as it is. Bury the science!!!
Recently we have seen an uptick in our second opinions on “Scaling and Root Planing” prescribed to patients who are wanting to know if the procedure is necessary. As one of the very few dentists who helped standardize the procedure against brutal opposition by organized dentistry, our dental practice is probably better situated to diagnose, prescribe, and perform the procedure widely known by the acronym “SRP”. As with many procedures, our understanding of the treatment and results has changed over the years. First, if there is significant inflammation and gum pocketing, we now first target the inflammation rather than trying to work in an infected mouth. Education is the most important part of the treatment, and we often can avoid the more lengthy and expensive follow-up treatment of SRP!!!!
We start with education. The patient MUST be engaged and active in their Scaling and Root Planing treatment or SRP is a waste of time and money and will make future healing more difficult due to the formation of scar tissue. If the patient has had SRP previously, and is being prescribed another treatment of SRP, we try to work with the patient to see if the reoccurrence is due to lack of proper education or simply patient non-compliance. More often than not, if the patient has had SRP in another facility, there has been little or no emphasis on patient education (the key to SRP success is education). That omission, in my opinion, is malpractice and fraud.
Gum disease is caused by bacteria that have formed a protective plaque on the roots of the teeth. Despite all the advertisements on TV promising to cure bleeding gums and to kill “99%” of all bacteria, these ads are intentionally misleading. A basic dentifrice must be applied, and the plaque must be mechanically disrupted. The clear majority of mouth rinses and popular toothpastes are acidic, and bacteria require acid and a protective coating of plaque to cause both gum disease and tooth decay. Toothpaste and mouth rinses are among the most destructive and ineffective wastes of money ever invented to fleece the public.
Lifelong rules for keeping your teeth and gums healthy:
1. Baking soda.
2. Interproximal Brushes
3. Electronic toothbrush
1. Use Common Sense™ as your dentifrice (toothpaste”. The baking soda in Common Sense is basic. What you see advertised on TV, particularly mouth washes, are ACIDIC. Acid is what promotes oral disease. Dental products that are acidic are like pouring gasoline on a fire.
2. Use interproximal brushes, cleaning in-between your teeth. The majority of gum disease and tooth decay starts between the teeth. 90% of all serious tooth and gum problems begin INBETWEEN your teeth. The teeth MUST be plaque free IN-BETWEEN for gums and teeth to be healthy. A tooth may have 20 or more differently populated microcolonies circumferential. Failure to disrupt and change a single pathogenic microcolony can and does lead to serious problems.
3. Quit brushing your teeth! Focus on your gumlines! Use a sonic toothbrush. Close your eyes and find ALL your gumlines. Most people don’t have a clue where their gumlines are until they take this one simple step of closing their eyes to feel where the brush should be. Not a week goes by that we don’t see an adult who is missing their gumlines with disastrous results! Do YOU know where your gumlines are? See if you can find the gumline between your very back tooth and gums with your toothbrush. You may be surprised.
Pick your dentist and dental team carefully. If your dental care givers appear to be looking for things to “fix”, they probably are. If they are not promoting rules 1-3 they do not have you or your children’s best interests in mind, either. If they are not using the intra oral camera to show you, the patient, areas of health and neglect, they are not doing their job. If you cannot accompany your child to the treatment area, find another office. We are proudly working on our THIRD generation of dental patients who have no decay or restorations, but remember, fancy dental offices are like banks and casinos: they build offices with YOUR money.
Life is full of choices. If you live long enough, your declining immune system will compromise your teeth unless you learn to follow these very simple rules. If you are human, you will tend to avoid the inevitable, thinking that you can put off change until you get into trouble. When you start experiencing root decay, you may not have the ability to learn new skills, so don’t put off learning these skills.
1. Around three decades ago, I identified the microbial challenge of yeast in the elderly, “Geriatric Root Caries”.
2. In 2014 I began actively studying and confronting the heart breaking disease of “Pediatric Decay” which turned out to have a major component of yeast infection of the baby teeth! This resulted in a ground breaking paper “Nursing Caries”.
3. Dental disease is caused by a pathogenic oral biofilm. Reliant on an
4. Acidic resting oral pH.
5. As in any advancement, there are some false starts and blind detours until you ask the right questions;
6. Once the causative agent was identified, what is easily available commercially to the consumer?
7. Asking the right questions regarding “tooth paste”, “what is the pH of toothpaste”, virtually all formulations are acidic. Original formulations contained sugar. Acidic tooth paste and mouthwashes CAN promote decay!!!
8. Acid is essential to the proliferation of pathogenic bacteria. Putting acid on teeth and gums is like pouring gasoline on a fire. Think Listerine.
9. One of the most common and cheapest consumer goods is common baking soda! Baking soda is basic, and has the perfect abrasive index to be compatible with tooth structure. Use baking soda as your dentifrice of choice. That’s Common Sense®!!!!
We helped standardize the procedure "Chemical Curretage" as an adjunct in treating periodontal disease in a step-wise procedure. We also combine LNAP with CC as one of the advanced steps. My article addressing Chemical Curretage is available through this link: ChemicalCurretageWB.pdf
My Regards to All Friends, Confusion to All Enemies. May God bless All
J Tim Rainey, DDS, MAGD Go to www.jtimrainey.com for more opinions
Dr. & Mrs. J Tim Rainey & Staff
Dr. Rainey can be reached at drrainey@jtimrainey.com, or (361) 526 4695
AIR-ABRASIVE MICRO-DENTISTRY®
SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH IN MINIMALLY INVASIVE PREVENTIVE DENTISTRY™
Texas Institute for Advanced Dental Studies®