Problems with the gums: The importance of controlling gum disease
Periodontal illness is a very common pathology. Also known as gum disease, pyorreah or periodontitis which affects, according to the College Organisation of Dentists, between 85 and 94% of the Spanish population over the age of 35, most of which suffer mild infections orinflammations.
The principal signs of periodontal illnesses are bleeding and the formation of plaque (calcified bacterial plaque). When the inflammation of the gum is minor, it is called gingivitis, and when the gingivitis is not treated, the condition evolves into periodontitis, which can provoke the loss of a bone which, in severe cases, ends in the loss of the tooth.
Problems with the gums are not local problems, that is, they affect the rest of the body. Medical science is discovering over the years greater association between problems with the gums and other pathologies which affect other parts of the body.
Towards the end of the 90´s, a study published by Sara Grossiand Robert Genco, from the State University of New York, in the magazine Annals of Periodontology and aforementioned more than 550 times in works that followed, where they clearly relateperiodontal illnesswith diabetes,demonstrating that « diabetes is a risk factor for periodontal illnesses» such as « the elimination of the periodontal infection using antibiotics improves the metabolical control of diabetes, defined in a reduction of the glycatedhemoglobinaand in the requirements of insulin».
In the case of cardiovascular disease such as a heart attack or stroke, the periodontitis is considered an important risk factor. This is how it is referred toin the guides for the prevention of cardiovascular disease in the clinical practice published by the European Society of Cardiology.
During a pregnancy, the periodontitis duplicates the risk of a premature birth, as the substances that are released, act in the cervical maturity and induce the cervical contractions.
[alert_green]In the Medical Institute of Facial Surgery Benidorm we are conscious of the importance of this pathology, for this reason all of our patients are submitted to a periodontal exam as part of the diagnosis and the treatmentwill be personalised according to the severity of the problem. A periodontal exam is the first step, have a periodontal exam at least once a year.[/alert_green]
Details and figures obtained from the Spanish Society of Periodontology and Osseointegration (SEPA)
DR. DAVID OLCINA ALGARA
> Licensed in Odontology by the University Cardenal Herrera CEU in 2010 becoming the fourth generation of a family dedicated to odontology.
> He possesses a Master Degree in Surgery, Implantology and Periodoncia of the University of Leon and has carried out advanced formation in Implantology in the Zimmer Institute in Winterthur, Switzerland.
> He has formed part of our project since 2010 which he combines with the private practice in his own Clinic in Alicante. Dr. Olcina is the coordinator of the Unit of Implantology and Dental Aesthetics and of the Unit of Odontopaediatrics within the Paediatrics Service.