A periodontal week – Dr Gan
This is indeed a periodontal week.
a. Bleeding gum and bad breath
A young gentleman came seeking help for his bleeding gum and bad breath. The bleeding gum had worried him and he was scared that something was not right but he did not know why. Also, he noticed that there was bad breath in his mouth and it embarrassed him during social interaction with his friends.
b. Mobile teeth
This is a very sad case. This middle age foreign worker was brought to our clinic by her employer after knowing that she self pulling out her VERY VERY extremely mobile teeth. After examination, she had severe gum problem causing all of her teeth mobile. She had to take out 12 of her very mobile teeth because they may fell out anytime! I scheduled for multiple visit extractions and I can see in her face that she was really sad about losing her teeth! A sad case that can actually be prevented if she had came to us earlier!
c. Gingival recession
This is a very cheerful patient who approached us on her own for her receding gum. According to her, she first learnt that her receding gum which had bothered her for many years actually has a solution to it from a Singapore dentist. Since then, she had been trying to look for a dentist who can perform this procedure but to no avail. So she called and called many many clinics trying to find one until she found us!! Lucky her! Now that we had done the free gingival graft for her and she was extremely happy! All of us can’t wait to see the outcome of her free gingival graft which will be one week later!
d. EmunDo Laser Treatment
This patient came for his regular EmunDo treatment. He is a very successful and renowned lawyer; yet a very loving husband and caring father and grandfather. Even though he has very busy schedule, he will never forget to come for his regular EmunDo laser treatment. This time he actually came five months after his last visit (he was supposed to come on three monthly reviews) and he can actually felt that something was not right as the gum bleeds when he brushed his teeth. That gave him an alarm bell that the gum was reminding him for his regular EmunDo treatment and here he is for his treatment.
e. Gingival and periodontal abscess
A young gentleman came complaining of swelling and abscess at his gum. When I checked on him, there were swellings near his lower lateral incisor and canine. The pocket depth at his lower incisors showed a pocket depth of 13mm!!! . I suggested to him periodontal surgery if he wants to save his tooth, else he will have to take the tooth out sooner or later. Extraction at a young age will cause bone loss and restoring the tooth may actually cost him more than saving his tooth now.
f. Endo-perio lesion
This expatriate found us through introduction from a friend in Ipoh. He came complaining of pain at one of his upper left teeth. There was no caries (“hole”) on the tooth, but it had a deep pocket of 7mm and it was mobile. After taking a radiograph, we found out that the tooth had already developed abscess which the tooth was rotten inside out. Another test further confirmed that the tooth nerve is affected and starting to die. It is indeed very sad that the patient was not aware that a gum problem can actually cause a tooth to die and hence he had never bother to take care of his gum.
In our daily clinical practice, there are always full of patients with gum problem. According to the National Oral Health Survey of Adults (NOHSA), Oral Health Division, Ministry of Health Malaysia, 94% of dentate adults have some form of periodontal disease. This means out of 10 Malaysians, 9 of them actually suffer from some kind of gum problem. There are actually several ways that we can help our people to deal with these problems.
If you have any gum problem, or if you are in doubt if you have gum problem, do write to me at ganshouwan@story.drfauziah.com or give me a call at +603-62063068, +603-62064066 to arrange an appointment.