“Doc I just brush once in the morning and I’m good to go”, said P.
I reeled back, not so much from the shock of the statement that P had just made but more from the mal-odour that graced my nostrils (through my 3-ply mask that too). P was a new patient that just visited the practice. He had no complaints and said his wife forced him to come see me. I wonder why.
“P, I have some bad news and I have some worse news,’ I said. “The bad news is that food has accumulated around your teeth and has become rock hard so much so that even the brushing that your doing in the morning is not really going to help. Haven’t you realized anything different when you chew into fruits or bread?”, I asked. Mr. P’s eyes widened as it dawned on him. He said that he started noticing his gums would bleed very easily which never happened before and all a sudden he would feel his teeth become very sensitive on having cold food.
He had gum disease or gingivitis in fancy dentist language. This is a condition that occurs when adequate oral hygiene is not maintained and soft food debris (plaque) adheres to the tooth structure causing the gums to get inflamed. The tartar or calculus as it is called is a tenacious layer that can only be removed by your friendly neighbourhood dentist using specialised cleaning tools known as scalers. The silver lining was that his gum disease was at a minor level and could easily be taken care of. If this was left behind it would progress into something known as periodontitis which would take a few other procedures to manage.
A quick cleaning and polishing and a strict oral hygiene regimen of brushing TWICE daily and flossing was given to Mr. P. He grinned following the procedure and said, “Doc I haven’t seen my teeth this white in while. I can’t wait to show them off!”