This imaging system will have the ability to treat decay at its earliest stage. You mouth may feel clean after you brush, but in reality it’s still a jungle in there. The space between tooth and gum-warm, safe and stocked with lots of snacks-is an ideal habitat for microorganisms. Oral microflora are so diverse, in fact, that some investigators have compared the mouth to a rain forest. But until recently the oral ecosystem was largely uncharted territory. To identify mouth bacteria it was necessary to grow them in culture, but oral microorganisms are finicky and will not always reproduce outside their native habitat.
A study released by the U.S. surgeon general, David Satcher, proclaimed that the mouth “can serve as an early warning system,” the analogue of the canary in the coal mine, for signaling broader medical problems. Indeed, recent research is establishing connections between the health of the mouth and that of the rest of the body.
The mouth-body connection is significant. Gum disease can cause a decline in a person’s overall health. The reasons are still hazy, but many investigators suggest that when the gums bleed-for instance, after a professional teeth cleaning or intense brushing-bacteria in the mouth may enter the bloodstream and trigger health problems elsewhere in the body. For example, a rare heart infection, endocarditis, sometimes afflicts people soon after they have dental work done; as a result, dentists routinely give preventive doses of antibiotics to patients who have certain kinds of heart problems.
In 1989 a team led by the internist Kimmo J. Manila of Helsinki University Hospital in Finland studied a hundred subjects who had recently suffered heart attacks, and a similar number of people with no history of heart disease. The team found that the dental health of the heart patients was substantially worse than that of the control subjects, The association remained valid even after factors such as age, social class, smoking habits and other health problems had been adjusted for- Manila’s study sparked considerable interest, and since then more than fifteen other epidemiological studies have confirmed the association between gum disease and heart disease. The work is not definitive, however; a recent study published in the journal of the American Medical Association did not confirm the link.
Epidemiologists have also noted an association between gum disease and stroke. For example, in 1999 the epidemiologist Tiejian Wu and his coworkers at the State University of New York at Buffalo examined medical and dental data that had been collected over a period of twenty-one years from more than 9,000 people. After adjusting for many of the same factors that Manila took into account, Wu’s team determined that the people who started out with gum disease were 2.2 times more likely than people with healthy gums to have a stroke during the study period.
Both strokes and certain forms of heart disease are the result of atherosclerosis, a condition in which hard plaques build up inside the arteries, eventually blocking the flow of blood to the heart or the brain. Studies such as Mattila’s and Wu’s do not prove that gum infections cause heart attacks and strokes; they only show a positive statistical correlation between the two. Other studies, however, do suggest causation. For example, recent work demonstrated that infecting mice with P. gingivalis caused blood-vessel plaques to form more often than they did in uninfected mice. Even more tellingly, the periodontist Joseph J. Zambon of the State University of New York at Buffalo has found that between 30 percent and 50 percent of the plaques removed from the arteries of heart patients contain DNA from P. gingivalis and other oral pathogens.
Poor oral health may also influence other conditions. For example, the bacteria that cause pneumonia can occur in high numbers on the teeth of patients in nursing homes and hospital intensive-care units. If those pneumonia-causing bacteria are not removed, they can be breathed into the lungs, where they are likely to trigger respiratory infections, particularly in people whose immune systems are weak.
Furthermore, the periodontist Sara G. Grossi of the State University of New York at Buffalo discovered that when the gum disease of diabetics is treated, the glucose levels in their blood are more easily controlled. The periodontist Steven Offenbacher and his colleagues at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have shown that pregnant women with gum disease run a higher risk of giving birth prematurely than do women who do not have gum disease. More studies are in progress to validate that association, as well as the links between gum disease and chronic illnesses. But existing evidence suggests that, in the future, treating and preventing gum disease may be a key step in maintaining overall health.
Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) represents a major advance in dental diagnostics as it enables the capture of detailed characterization of hard tissue (teeth) and soft tissue (gums), at a resolution of up to 10 times that of currently used x-ray. This early intervention may have implications for a patient’s overall health.
Craig Gimbel DDS, VP Clinical Affairs of Lantis, said, “The detection and monitoring of the earliest stages of tooth decay and periodontal (gum) disease is the greatest challenge facing present day dentistry. The OCT Dental Imaging System™ provides visual information and documentation never before seen in previous imaging technologies, including x-ray.”
Lantis Laser with Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) has the potential to play a dominant role in this landscape that will be forever changed. Specifically OCT enables the dentist to make earlier and more accurate diagnosis of oral diseases such as decay and periodontal diseases. Early detection enables non- or minimally invasive techniques to be employed to arrest, and even reverse oral diseases.
Source: Lantis Laser Inc.
Contact: Lantis Laser Inc.
Stan Baron,President and CEO
11 Stonebridge Court
Denville, NJ 07834
Tel: (203) 300-7622
Forward-Looking Statements: Certain statements in this press release, including statements regarding the anticipated development and expansion of Lantis’ business, and the intent, belief or current expectations of Lantis, its directors or its officers, are forward-looking statements. Because such statements are subject to risks and uncertainties, actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statement
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