| StovePipe 2004-09-21, 2:28 am |
| Joel M. Eichen <joeleichen@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> How do the hygienists get the bacteria out? Scoop them out with the
> little scalers?
Ezzzzatly what they (and also WE) do... Disorganize and remove their
scaffoldings (plaque and tarter).
>
> Anyone know how big bacteria are?
.... billions on the head of a pin... All we can reasonably do is REDUCE
THEIR NUMBERS. The root planing removes toxins and damaged cementum, and
the sub-g scaling removes tarter and plaque. In so doing, you reduce the
numbers of bacteria, hopefully to a level the system can handle. The
numbers will come back up again... and again... and again... This is why
perio treatments are THERAPIES and not CURES. It takes 3 months for a
bacterial population to regenerate itself to the quantities where bone
will again start to be lost, and so that's why we have these cases on
recall. Incedentally, the recall is usually done in one appointment, and
is not $$$-intensive. Ideally the patient takes care of what plaque
there is above the gum line and we take care of what plaque is now below
the gum line. Even if we could sterilize the mouth, you know that three
months later, it would still be dirty, and that's what a mouth is: an
opening to the outside as therefore, non-sterilizable.
What else are you going to do? Hit them with antibiotics????? Sure, but
what happens to the next generation of bugs? Megga resistance and bigger
problems...
If you have a better way, pls sing out.
Cheeahs
SP
--
To reply: take out the TRASH...
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