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As you can see from my article posted above, the tradition of having a check
up every six months was established about 1925 upon the invention of x-ray
films for the purpose of preventing toothaches. A tooth that looks whole on
an x-ray examination seldom gets decay deep enough to cause a toothache
within a six month time span. This is why the old doctor was able to say,
“we can prevent toothaches in 90% or more of cases” way back before the
Depression. At that point in time dentists had all they could do just to
stamp out toothaches, never mind the current main cause of tooth loss…gum
disease.
And this has been the standard of care, which your insurance company has
latched onto like a snapping turtle and won’t let go “til it thunders”. They
pay for cleaning and x-rays twice a year. And they don’t want to learn
anything that has been discovered since they began the insurance game…1960.
If you don’t have gum disease this is entirely adequate for you.
For the past 30 years and more it has been standard of care to treat a
patient with gum disease differently, however. If it is discovered that you
have gum disease of a specific level, you are referred to a gum specialist,
and receive treatments from him which most general dentists don’t or can’t
provide. After those treatments, you stay with the gum specialist for two
cleanings a year, and go to your general dentist TWO OTHER TIMES A YEAR. And
insurance has never covered this service completely.
A person with gum pockets of a certain depth can’t clean to the bottom of
them no matter how well they brush or floss. They need the help of a dentist
or hygienist to keep the depth of their pockets free of germs about every
three months.
This has been the state of the art as I said above for the past 30 years.
Enter the “Waterlase”!
This technology lets a dentist do gum surgery in a few seconds which a
dentist with a steel scalpel and stitches would take over an hour to do. Gum
surgery has entered the phase, which “knee surgeons” have been at since they
got “laporoscopes” to work with. Gone today are the foot-long scars down the
leg which testify to the world that the poor soul has had knee surgery. They
are replaced by nearly invisible quarter-inch scars now that doctors can
operate through a fiber optic probe. Now a dentist can provide this kind of
improved service with his Waterlase for your gums as well. It is now
infinitely less trouble for you as well as the dentist compared to the
method, which relies on scalpel and stitches. So much less trouble that it
can be performed repeatedly over a series of visits and very often result in
achieving the “Holy Grail” of gum treatment…new bone growth! I had always
been taught that this was impossible. And indeed, it always had been. But
dentists have been achieving this for a few years now with their lasers. I
am adopting this treatment system myself.
This year medical studies were released that links heart disease directly
with gum disease. Dentists have known forever that infected gums are almost
identical in their harm to having a palm-sized bedsore for years at a time.
Without the pain, of course. Now medical science has revealed that when we
treat your gum disease, we are preventing heart disease. Your insurance
company can’t ignore this truth forever! |
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