Gum Disease and Tongue Cancer

You want to do everything you can to reduce your risk of developing cancer, right? Can you imagine what you would go through if you were diagnosed with cancer? Can you imagine the worry that it would cause your family? Cancer is extremely difficult to face not only in terms of your mortality, but also in terms of treatment. What if you could do something to lessen your risk?

Gum disease has been linked to tongue cancer. Tongue cancer has usually been thought to be more associated with smoking then to anything else. Smoking is still thought to be a huge risk factor in developing tongue cancer, but gum disease is also a big risk factor. No other oral problem has been linked to tongue cancer other than gum disease.

When people are diagnosed with tongue cancer they are also checked for gum disease in order to reduce the risk of recurring tongue cancer. Long Island periodontist Dr. Scharf consults both cancer patients and those at risk of developing tongue cancer. A simple way to help reduce your risk of developing cancer would be to treat gum disease Long Island right away. As soon as gum disease sets in it can begin to cause bone loss. Every millimeter of bone loss that gum disease causes puts someone at five times greater risk of developing tongue cancer.

For people looking for a Long Island Periodontist there is no reason to be worried about treating gum disease. In most cases surgery is not necessary as has been thought in the past. Through the use of a periodontal laser on Long Island, Dr. Scharf can treat your gum disease without the need for old fashioned cut and stitch surgery. Not only is the procedure less invasive, but there is also less pain and a quicker recovery time. Another positive not is that you will not have to go into an operating room since Long Island periodontist Dr. Scharf can perform periodontal laser treatment in his office.

For more information on periodontal laser treatment on Long Island visit Dr. Scharf by calling (631)661-6633

Causes of Periodontal Disease

The main cause of periodontal (gum) disease is plaque, but other factors affect the health of your gums.

Periodontal (gum) diseases, including gingivitis and periodontitis, are serious infections that, left untreated, can lead to tooth loss. Periodontal disease can affect one tooth or many teeth. The main cause of periodontal disease is bacterial plaque, a sticky, colorless film that constantly forms on your teeth. However, factors like the following also affect the health of your gums.

Smoking/Tobacco Use
As you probably already know, tobacco use is linked with many serious illnesses such as cancer, lung disease and heart disease, as well as numerous other health problems. What you may not know is that tobacco users also are at increased risk for periodontal disease. In fact, recent studies have shown that tobacco use may be one of the most significant risk factors in the development and progression of periodontal disease.

Other contributing factors include genetics, women's issues, stress, medications, grinding, diabetes, poor nutrition and obesity. These will be covered in future posts.

If you have gum disease and want to treat it without sugery, consider laser periodontal therapy. To learn more about the periodontal laser keep reading here.

Gum Disease and Heart Disease | Periodontist Long Island | Gum Laser

In last week's New York Times Jane Brody wrote an article entitled "New Thinking on How to Protect the Heart." In it she mentions how elevated levels of a marker called C reactive protein is a significant risk factor for heart attack. She also discusses the effect of periodontal or gum inflammation has on health. Studies in the periodontal literature have shown over and over again that if you take a patient with periodontal disease and high levels of C reactive protein and treat their periodontal disease the levels of C reactive protein reduce. Wow. The mouth really is attached to the rest of the body. The old thinking was that neglecting the teeth only resulted in a loss of teeth. The new reality is that neglecting the mouth may result in loss of days of your life!! I have copied the whole article below for you. Stay warm and Happy New Year. To learn about laser periodontal therapy visit us on the web. To learn about Periodontal disease visit us. If you are looking for a Long Island Periodontist you can click to learn about Dr. Scharf

Here is the link to the NY Times article

Perioodntal Disease and Alzheimers | Periodontist Long Island

INFLAMMATION LINKED TO ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE

Exposure to inflammation early in life quadruples one’s risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease, said researchers in a presentation on June 19 at the first Alzheimer’s Association International Conference on Prevention of Dementia in Washington.

A research team led by Margaret Gatz, Ph.D. (a professor of psychology at the University of Southern California) and including researchers from the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, sifted through data on the 20,000 participants in the Swedish Twin Registry and found 109 "discordant" pairs of twins in which only one twin had been diagnosed with dementia.

Previous studies by Dr. Gatz and colleagues have shown that Alzheimer’s disease is strongly genetic; if one twin has the disease, his or her identical twin has a 60 percent chance of developing it.

Information about participants’ education, activities and health histories came from surveys they completed in the 1960s, when the registry was created, as well as from hospital discharge records. The surveys included questions about loose or missing teeth. Researchers used the answers to the dental-related questions to build a crude indicator of periodontal disease.

They concluded that an inflammatory burden early in life, as represented by chronic periodontal disease, might have severe consequences later. "If what we’re indexing with periodontal disease is some kind of inflammatory burden, then it is probably speaking to general health conditions," said Dr. Gatz.

If the link between inflammation and periodontal disease is confirmed, researchers said it would add inflammatory burden to the short list of preventable risk factors for Alzheimer’s disease.

To learn how to treat gum disease long Island without surgery learn about laser periodontal therapy on Long Island