Dental Lasers
Lasers are in smart-bombs, CD players, and bar-code readers at the grocery checkout counter. Now they're showing up in your dentist's office. What Is a Laser? A laser is a device that creates a dense, powerful beam of light. The beam from a low-power laser can play the music on a CD or read those weird bar codes on your box of corn flakes. High-power lasers can make precise cuts through thick steel or blow up a guided missile. It's the low-power lasers that dentists are starting to use...

Do I Have Periodontal Disease?
Periodontal disease is an infection of the teeth, gums, and the bone that surrounds the teeth. Most people who have periodontal disease aren't even aware of it. It's rarely painful, especially in the early stages...

Alternatives to Gum Disease Treatment
If you have periodontal (gum) disease, your choices are limited. You may either choose to treat the problem, or to delay treatment. Treatment involves a combination of root planing, new homecare techniques, more frequent dental cleanings, and in severe cases, surgery...

Gum Disease and Heart Attacks—Is There a Connection?
There is growing evidence that the presence of periodontal (gum) disease can be linked to the incidence of coronary heart disease. Gums infected with periodontal disease are toxic reservoirs of disease-causing bacteria. The bacteria hide in pockets next to the teeth, where the gums have pulled away from the tooth surface. When gums are this infected, they frequently bleed...

Oral Bacteria from Gum Disease Can Cause Ailments Elsewhere in the Body
In one person's mouth, the number of bacteria can easily exceed the number of people who live on Earth. This is according to Sigmund Socransky, a dental researcher at the Forsyth Dental center in Boston, who also asserts that in a plaque-free mouth, 1,000 to 100,000 bacteria live on each tooth surface, but when plaque is present, as many as 100 million to one billion bacteria may be growing on each tooth. It staggers the mind. But what does it do to the body?...