No matter what your struggles are with gum disease or tooth loss, Dr. Dayan can help.
Dr. Sharona Dayan’s gentle and natural approach to treating gum diseases combines minimally invasive therapies like LANAP laser treatment for gum disease along with traditional wisdom and natural remedies. Dr. Dayan is a Harvard-trained, Board-certified periodontist who treats gum diseases with modern comfort-enhancing technologies like lasers along with biological, nature-based therapies and traditional wisdom. She addresses not just the symptoms associated with gum diseases, but also the root causes.
Dr. Dayan is passionate about helping her patients keep their own teeth in a state of health, function, comfort and beauty while reducing chronic inflammation in the mouth and body. She is a teacher and an oral health advocate who takes a comprehensive approach not just to treating gum diseases but also transforming her patients by healing the underlying causes.
Dr. Dayan wrote the book Keep Your Teeth™ to help people understand the risk factors for tooth loss related to our modern lifestyles as well as the most comfortable and least invasive treatment modalities to avoid tooth loss.
How Does A Gentle and Natural Approach To Treating Gum Disease Benefit You, The Patient?
While many patients come to Dr. Sharona Dayan for the specific complaints of gum recession, gum disease, missing teeth or infected dental implants Dr. Dayan will take a more comprehensive approach than just treating these symptoms. Gum diseases may be related to a mouth breathing habit. Plaque buildup may be related to the diet. Poor sleep and fatigue caused by snoring and sleep apnea can increase chronic inflammation and compromise the body’s ability to fight gum disease. Your maximum potential for healing gum diseases and keeping your teeth is more easily reached if you also address the root causes of gum disease, not just the symptoms. She will therefore approach your gum disease by addressing your mouth breathing habits, sleep and nutrition.
Why Treat Gum Disease?
Gum diseases are pro-inflammatory and can contribute to to other illnesses by means of the inflammatory cascade. Hippocrates, the father of modern medicine, is said to have cured arthritis by removing an infected tooth. So this idea that there is a mouth-body connection goes back 2000 years. In the year 2000, the American Surgeon General made the first ever report on oral health when he stated that a healthy mouth is a necessary requirement for a healthy body. You can read the Surgeon General’s report here. Dr. Dayan takes a serious approach to reducing chronic inflammation not just in the mouth but in the entire body. Her blog posts offer helpful advice on how a biological approach to treating gum diseases can dramatically improve your health.
LANAP Laser Treatment For Gum Disease
Dr. Dayan treats chronic, inflammatory gum disease using the LANAP laser treatment. She is also an instructor who teaches LANAP to other dentists. If you have been told you have bleeding gums and gum disease or you have been told you need to have your teeth or dental implants removed, read about LANAP laser treatment, the most advanced treatment for gum disease. You can read more about it here. Don’t take the drastic step of removing your teeth or dental implants before you book a consultation with Dr. Sharona Dayan to see how she can help. You can also call the office at (310)205-0900 or email us at [email protected].
Nutrition and Gum Disease
There are many ways you can optimize your nutrition to heal your mouth and slow down the rate of gum disease progression. Dr. Dayan offers nutritional counseling as part of her comprehensive approach to treating gum diseases. If she recommends supplements as part of your healing process she will be sure to recommend a natural approach.
How Does Mouth Breathing Affect Gum Diseases?
Gum disease is an inflammatory condition that leads to tooth loss. It starts when certain disease-causing bacteria collect along the gumline then go deeper and deeper inside the pocket and cause the supporting tissues and bone around the teeth to dissolve. Mouth breathing is a risk factor for gum disease. Mouth breathing changes the pH of the mouth to be more acidic which promotes overgrowth of the bad germs. Mouth breathing also causes the mouth to dry out. Saliva provides a lot of natural immunity. When the mouth is dry the teeth don’t have the natural protection from saliva. In addition, many people with sleep apnea also have reflux that introduces acid and stomach bacteria into the ears, sinuses and mouth. This adds to the acidity in the mouth. The stomach bacteria like H. pylori don’t belong in the mouth and can disrupt the healthy flora of the mouth and cause gum disease.
Mouth breathing can also initiate teeth grinding during sleep. The extra pressure on the ligaments of the teeth during teeth grinding can accelerate gum disease and bone loss around teeth that eventually leads to tooth loss.
For these reasons, Dr. Dayan suggests undergoing gum disease treatment in conjunction with a sleep appliance and mouth tape to promote nasal breathing.
Mouth Breathing Can Lead To Tongue Thrusting and Gum Recession
Sleep and breathing disorders can also cause the tongue to thrust during the swallow in an attempt to dilate the airway and create more airflow. We swallow more than 1000 times per day and the tongue is a very strong muscle. This is why a tongue thrust dysfunction can cause orthodontic relapse and gum recession. Dr. Dayan works with orofacial myofunctional therapists who can retrain your tongue so that it functions properly during the swallow. After the tongue is repatterned for a correct swallow you can request gum recession treatment using AlloDerm and the results will last much longer. If you need a retainer to keep your teeth straight or you have gum recession, you may have a dysfunctional swallow and mouth breathing habit.
We hope that after reading this page you have a better appreciation for gum disease as a symptom of dysfunctional mouth breathing and nutrition and why the biological approach to treating gum diseases will give you the best possible chance for healing your body. Don’t delay in getting the necessary help you need to work toward a healthier mouth, body and mind. Call Dr. Dayan at 310-205-0900 to find out how she can help.
