Gum Disease (Oh, Gross!)

As I mentioned in my last post, the treatment I’ve chosen for my Sleep Apnea is a combination of didgeridoo playing, vocal training and a Mandibular Advancement Device (MAD). However the treatment plan has been delayed somewhat because the dentist I attended to get the MAD fitted identified that I had gum disease.

It’s not sensible to use an MAD if you have gum disease because it relies on a stable foundation of teeth in order to hold the bottom jaw forward. But besides that, gum disease alone turns out to be really bad for your health. I used to think that because I brush my teeth every day and don’t have any cavities at age 50, my dental maintenance approach of avoiding dentists altogether was working.

Turns out I was dead wrong, and without intervention my teeth were likely to start falling out early.

That’s Disgusting

Gum disease is also associated with a host of other really horrific diseases. Bacteria in the plaque living deep beneath the gum line can infect your bloodstream and affect major organs. I wonder whether this infection is the root cause of my sore throat and post-nasal drip, and whether the inflammation it is causing is contributing to the sleep apnea.

The treatment for the gum disease consisted of 3 rather unpleasant sessions of grinding and scraping of the plaque below my gum line, fortunately conducted under an anesthetic. I’m tremendously grateful that I live in an era which anesthetics are available for this sort of thing; which hasn’t been the case for most of human history. The most painful part was the initial injections, but the whole process made me feel very anxious what with all the dental tools in my mouth. It reminded me of this bit by my favourite comedian of my youth, Bill Cosby:

This was followed by a daily regimen of flossing, brushing evening and morning, using Picksters to massage the gums and remove any remaining food particles, and warm salt water rinses.

After about four weeks of this, the gum disease appears to have gone away and I’m finally ready to start using the MAD.