Shocking Information About Your Mouth

Our mouths are home to literally billions of bugs, reports Danbury CT dentist Jay M. Marks, DMD. Just ponder this, if you don’t brush your pearly whites daily, you will have more mouth bugs than all the humans residing on our home planet, the whole Earth. There are more than 700 different types of bugs hiding in OUR mouths.Germs Quiz: What Lives in Your Mouth? showing the amount of bacteria in your mouth is closest to the population of EarthMost of the bacteria thrive on and in our gums and teeth. Researchers found more dwellers than expected, by using techniques to examine dental plaque and calculus. Thirtyseven (37) new microbes were recently discovered. These discoveries can help us understand the causes of tooth decay, and gum diseases.

Many of the 500 known bugs are found under our gums in our periodontal pockets. They live in the plaque found under our gums, and this is the substance we remove during a professional dental cleaning or prophylaxis. Many of the bugs have also been found to cause a variety of human diseases.

Since microbes are so small (microscopes needed to see them), after we remove the plaque and calculus with our dental instruments (dental scalers and curettes), some of the bugs are still left in the depths of the gum pockets.That is why we suggest the use of an anti-microbial solution, which we irrigate under the gums to flush out and kill most of the remaining bacteria. This is how we can reverse gum inflammation and disease. At a minimum, 2 dental cleaning a year are needed. Some patients need more visits to reverse gum conditions.

If it has been a while since you have had a dental cleaning, if your gums hurt or bleed, please contact us.