Periodontal Disease Prevention: Identify Bacteria Through Salivary Diagnostics

In his DentistryIQ blog, a Making the Oral-Systemic Connection, a Richard H. Nagelberg, DDS, says he has  a revolutionary idea: identify the bacteria in patients who don’t have periodontal disease.a He goes on to explain the ideal protocol for combatting periodontal disease and how you can begin to offer diagnosis and treatment in your practice use the information that is available regarding risk factors namely, salivary diagnostics.

The hallmark of prevention is to determine risk factors for disease and then to oversee those risk factors before the disease, provision, or occasion comes. This is why there is so much existing information regarding the risk factors for myocardial infarction. Periodontal canker is no exception. Identify the biggest risk factor for the periodontal disease–namely, the specific bacteria a patient keeps in his or her mouth–and then administer it with an antimicrobial etiquette before periodontal canker rears its unpleasant head.

Patients who have a strong family history of periodontal canker would be an ideal place to start. Since you can reasonably predict that these individuals have some degree of hoisted gamble for periodontal canker, why not catch out which oral bacteria they have? And the same for patients with gingivitis who have not yet changed to periodontitis. If the test shows very little bacteria at low levels, we are capable of concluding that, at this time, the patient is not at risk for the developed at periodontal canker, and vice versa. This just acquires sense.