Gum disease and tooth decay together account for around 90% of tooth loss.
In most people, these diseases are preventable through a combination of dentist / hygienist and patient care. But despite this, the last Adult Dental Health Survey (1998) reported that 46% of >65 year olds had lost all of their natural teeth.
For a variety of reasons, some patients are at greater risk of gum disease than others. Your dentist knows which factors contribute to this heightened risk, but the interaction of these factors is difficult to quantify.
How PreViser can help
PreViser is a validated internet based computer program which has been developed by dental experts. Using data input by your dentist as you are in the chair, it generates a personalized, independent report which tells you your risk of getting gum disease on a scale of 1 (very low) to 5 (very high). It also gives you your current state of gum health from 1 (health) to 100 (severe gum disease). Working with your dentist, you are then in a position to take control.
Know your risk levels: many of the factors that cause gum disease and caries are ones that are out of your control, such as genetics. But others are not. Smoking is a huge contributor which can increase your risk threefold. Other factors include poorly controlled diabetes, oral hygiene and diet. Ageing itself is not a risk factor: the damage to our teeth and gums simply builds up over the years. Gum disease is preventable even in genetically predisposed people.
Know your level of disease. If you know it, you can control it. You can work with your dentist and hygienist to ensure that you reach your optimum state of oral health
see the impact of your efforts though a chart which demonstrates how your disease score reduces.
