In my own case,
>although brushing, flossing, and proxy-brushing kept my teeth
>squeaky clean, they did nothing to arrest the periodontal disease
>process, as a result of which I have lost three molars to date.

What happens is this:  teeth that have been kept relatively free of plaque
will not develop periodontal disease.  If at some point in the past
bacteria was allowed to remain for extended periods around the gum margin,
and you are susceptable to periodontal disease then began and formed
pockets around the teeth.  These pockets then were difficult, even
impossible to clean free of plaque, so more bacteria entered the pockets
and the pockets progressed.  Finally, you get to a situation in which it is
impossible to maintain the teeth with normal oral hygiene, and they begin
to degenerate.


>What *did* greatly improve the periodontal situation was the
>low-carb diet.  Within a couple of weeks, my gums went from red
>and puffy (as they had been for years) to pink and tight.  Only
>one spot remains inflamed, for reasons that no dentist or
>periodontist has yet been able to divine.  On the low-carb diet,
>even the periodontal "pockets" began to shrink.

The fact that you were eating less refined foods like sugar and flour
certainly will make a difference:  the bacteria in the plaque do not have
so much of their favorite stuff to metabolize.  So the inflamation
subsides.  The pockets seem to decrease because the gums are not so puffy.
And in this state patients can keep the progression of the periodontal
disease to a very slow pace, maybe even stop the progression.  But the gums
do not reattach like they were originally and it will always be more
difficult to keep plaque free, if not impossible.

The best you can do for your gums now is get the bristles of the brush down
into the gum margins, and into the pockets if there are any, and get the
plaque out of there.  There may be some bleeding but don't worry about
that.  In some pockets there may be even pus, as I suspect you probably
have around that last molar.

Let me know if you have anymore questions.
>
>Sears' eicosanoid-based theory of low-carb dieting offers at
>least some explanation for why this sort of diet would alleviate
>some of the problems of periodontitis.
>
>Todd Moody
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>
>
Paul Getty
Morehead City, NC
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