Periodontal Disease
I treated a recall client of another fourth year student a few months ago. She was a seventy six year old lady who was involved in more extracurricular activities, such as dancing, singing and learning Mandarin, than most people. However, she had poor oral self care habits, and had a molar with severe chronic periodontal disease that had a class four furcation involvement, as well as 9mm pocket depths encompassing the tooth, and over 3mm of recession on all surfaces of the tooth. She also stated that when she brushes the molar it bleeds excessively. Upon examination I realized that it was almost impossible to clean the tooth with brushing and flossing alone, so I suggested she used a proximal brush with cylinder brush tips to actually enter into the furcation. I debrided the molar, as well as the rest of what teeth she had remaining and scheduled her for a re-evaluation appointment six weeks later. When she returned she said that the bleeding has gone down significantly when brushing and she said she was using the proximal brush as well. When I re-assessed the tooth the inflammation had become minimal and there was 60-70% less calculus than before. There was minimal bleeding as well. I felt as though this particular client’s zest for life and staying healthy really made me want to assist her in keeping her molar and her remaining teeth for as long as possible. With proper maintenance, technique, oral disease education and dedication, the progression of her periodontal disease can decrease and ideally stop from worsening.