Oral Systemic Treatment of Eczema
 
            I recently had a very interesting experience with clearing up eczema that I’ve had for a long time.  It started to clear up shortly after my dentist treated me for periodontal disease, which I didn’t even know I had, until he noticed it.   When I later told him that my eczema had gone away, he said it was fairly common for inflammatory problems like that to go away when the periodontal disease gets treated.  He said it’s hard to prove that’s what causes conditions like eczema to go away, but that it’s always smart to get treated for periodontal disease if you’ve got a problem that’s related to inflammation.

            I  developed eczema when I was a teenager, and it had been bothering me, on and off, for about 6 years.  I tried most of the standard treatments, and discovered that as common as it is, eczema can be hard to treat, and doctors aren’t even sure what causes it.  Mine was mostly around my elbows, where I rest my arms on my desk, and there were some patches on my legs, too, from time to time.

            I saw a dermatologist about once a month for a long time, and she gave me some different types of creams, including one with corticosteroids, which is a type of steroid that usually controls inflammation.  But it didn’t for me.  I also tried Novartis and ProtopicR, but they didn’t do much.

            After my dentist did his periodontal treatment, I got a lot more serious about taking good care of my gums, even though I had hardly noticed anything wrong – just a little bleeding sometimes when I brushed, and some swelling.  But I could tell the difference afterwards.  My gums felt better and looked healthier.  About a week or two after my gums got better, my eczema started to itch less and not be so flaky and ugly.  Then it just smoothed out into normal skin after another week or two, and that was almost a year ago now.

            Now I know there’s a whole theory that the inflammation from gums, plus bacteria, can get into your system, and cause a lot of different problems.  I’m just the eczema is gone.  I feel better about myself now.
 
            Julie
             Wisconsin
 
 
 
  
Lowering Systemic Inflammation With Oral Systemics
 
            I had an excellent response to lowering my body’s level of inflammation after I was treated for periodontal disease.  I didn’t require extensive treatment, just a couple of appointments, but I also started being much more diligent about my oral health, and, in my opinion, that was a decisive factor.

            My doctor brought the importance of inflammation to my attention.  He said that because I have very mild rheumatoid arthritis, with minor symptoms of swelling in the joints of my hands, I should have my C-reactive protein level measured, because rheumatoid arthritis is closely associated with general inflammation.

            I was somewhat aware that high levels of inflammation are also very common among people with a number of serious problems, including heart disease, macular degeneration, and some forms of cancer.  When I got my CRP test, my doctor seemed pretty concerned about it. I had a level of 3.1 mg. (per deciliter), which is abnormally high.

            While he and I were still considering my treatment options, I had some periodontal work done, and my dentist said that it was an inflammatory disease, too, and that in some people, it contributed to systemic inflammation.  He was the first one to tell me about the oral systemic approach.

            My doctor wanted to start me on medication, but we retested first, and my CRP was down to 1.8, which is in the normal range, so we held off.  It hasn’t gone back up over the past year and a half.  I go to an integrative physician, and he’s familiar with the oral systemic approach, and thinks resolving the periodontal issue was probably a major factor in my decreased systemic inflammation.   Obviously, I’m happy with the results.
 
 
            Mark
            Illinois

 
  
Helping to Prevent Cancer with Periodontal Care.
 
            My mom had pancreatic cancer, and it was terrible.  She said one of her uncles had it, too.  There are no effective treatments for it, and the survival rate is really low, about 10%.  It used to be a fairly rare type of cancer, but now it’s the fourth or fifth most fatal cancer.  Going through that experience with mom  left me with a lot of concern about it, because it seemed to run in the family, for whatever reason.

            One of the problems with pancreatic cancer is that there aren’t too many things you can do to prevent it.  It doesn’t have any real specific risk factors, like smoking is for lung cancer.  The only things I’ve found that seem to contribute to it are obesity, smoking, and chronic inflammation of the pancreas, or pancreatitis – plus a family history of it.  My weight is OK, I don’t smoke, I don’t get pancreatitis, and I can’t change my family history.

            So I was interested to see a story on public TV about helping to prevent pancreatic cancer by treating gum disease.  I followed it up on the Internet and read about a large study done at Harvard that showed a 64% increased risk of pancreatic cancer in people who have periodontal disease.  It also said the worse the periodontal disease, the higher the cancer risk.  Of course, cancers of the mouth, like laryngeal cancer, are closely linked to oral infection, and they’re hard to treat, too.

            I went to a good periodontist, and sure enough, I did have moderate periodontal disease, which is far more common than I thought.  My periodontist said about half of all people have it as bad as mine was. 

            I learned how to do a lot of things to control it.  I learned the right way to brush my teeth, which you’d think would be obvious but isn’t, and quite a few details about oral health care.  It’s more complicated than I thought it would be, but it’s not rocket science. 

            Now the gum problems are pretty much history, and I find that I worry less about cancer.  It helps to do something, even if there’s no guarantee it’s foolproof. 
 
 
            Jeff
            Indiana

 
Treating Diabetes with Oral Systemics as Part of the Program
 
            I developed Type 2 diabetes about five years ago, and early on my doctor told me it would be hard on my gums.  She said periodontal disease is a common complication of diabetes.  I already had a little bit of gum problems, with some bleeding every so often, and I didn’t want to make that worse than it was.

            I got a referral to a good dentist who dealt with a lot of diabetic people, and he said that not only does diabetes makes gum problems worse, but gum problems also make diabetes worse.  He said it increases insulin resistance, which I know I’ve got.  That can make you gain weight, too, even when it doesn’t lead to diabetes, and I’ve had problems with controlling my weight for years.

            My doctor had heard about periodontitis contributing to diabetes, but he wasn’t all the way onboard with the whole thing at first.  What we saw, though, was that after I did my perio treatments and home care plan, I got a much better score on a test of my blood sugar stability.  It’s called the hemoglobin A-1c test, and it can tell if you have good, stable blood sugar over a period of a couple of months.  After that, my diabetes doctor looked into it a little more, and said that there were some good studies on it, though it’s a new approach, for sure.

            Nobody likes having diabetes, but I’m adjusting well, and I’m glad I’m doing everything I can to control the problem and not let it ruin my life.
 
 
            Evangleline
            Florida
 
 
  
 
A Gums of Steel Oral Systemic Approach
           
            My dentist, Dr. Chris, has told me all about oral systemics, and I’m a real believer now.  I’m a graduate student in the life sciences, so I’ve gotten good at researching things, and I’ve found an amazing amount of evidence about the importance of oral health to systemic health.  There are a number of diseases that are closely associated with periodontal disease, including heart disease, certain cancers, diabetes, Alzheimer’s, kidney disease, and obesity.  Not to mention tooth loss and bad breath.

            The thing that really caught my eye was the role of periodontal disease in premature birth.  I hope to have a baby sometime in the near future, and premature birth is one of the worst risk factors for a healthy baby.   The research I saw was pretty dramatic.   Apparently, the risk goes up by almost 7 times if you have periodontal disease!

            I did the whole Gums of Steel protocol, and it’s a little overwhelming at first, because you have to change a number of habits in how you care for your teeth, gums, and even your tongue, and there are some diet and supplement elements you also have to do, and quite a few other lifestyle things that enter into periodontal disease. 

            I’ve found out that 75%-80% of all people have at least mild periodontal disease, and that about one-third of all people have a serious case.  At first, that struck me as odd, because almost everybody brushes and flosses.  But I learned that it takes more than that.  If that was enough, it wouldn’t be so common.

            I would advise anyone to look into the oral systemic thing, because it’s linked to so many serious problems.  Worst case scenario is that you’ll come out with nicer teeth and better breath!
 
           
            Katy
            Wisconsin