Dr. Travis E Hampton

Dentistry Questions Answered by Dr. Travis Hampton, DMD »
Section: Dentistry
Q: What Causes Periodontal Diseases?
A: Periodontal disease is the most common disease in the world. More common than a common cold. It is a silent disease, meaning that you could have it but have no pain associated with it. It is caused by bacteria, but it is a little more complex than that. Bacteria (or plaque) makes a substance called tartar that sticks to your teeth both below and above the gumline. Tartar looks like little blobs of cement, or more accurately, like miniturized coral reef in the ocean. Just like in the ocean where all of the fish swim around the coral reef, in your mouth all of the bacteria swim around the tartar. To your body, this is a foreign object, much like a splinter would be, say, in your thumb. And just like around a splinter, you get redness and swelling around the tartar. We call this gingivitis. When the infection that is in you gums, spreads down to the bone holding your …teeth in place, it is called periodontitis. Ginigivitis is reversible, remove the splinter (or tartar), keep it clean (floss and brush), and in 2 weeks it will usually heal. Periodontitis is irreversible. Once the bone is lost, we cannot grow it back. We can only control periodontitis. The disease is completely preventable though, so that is why dentists and hygienists are always telling you to see your dentist on a regular basis so that we can check you for the disease and let you know if you have it. Remember, it is a silent disease, so you may have it without knowing it. Now having said all of that, there are factors that increase your likely-hood of getting periodontal disease. The #1 factor in getting gum disease is not bacteria but genetics. If your parents had gum disease then you are much more likely to get it. The #2 factor is the bacteria. You control the bacteria and tartar by having good home care (brushing and flossing), and going to the dentist on a regular basis to remove the tartar that is forming. #3 is smoking and #4 is diabetes. Diabetics don't heal well in general and periodontitis is an infection. I imagine that answered your question, lol. Be sure to floss, brush, and see your dentist regularly to prevent or help control periodontal disease.
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Section: Dentistry
Q: Where did you develop such a verbose vocabulary?
A: Hang on, let me look up verbose.....jk. I know that I can be a bit oratorical at times but that is only because I have always been didactic by nature, even when I was a taciturn, little kid trying to find my place in school. Of course, I am just kidding again. But being more serious, that is why I love answering your questions. I have a real passion for what I do and I love to share it with other people. I realize that my answers can be verbose at times, but remember, my area of expertise is in dentistry, not English. So if I leave a dangling participle every now and again, forgive me. I will try to be more succinct with my sentence structure in the future. I'll be sure to speak to my editor about that. In the mean time, if you have any dental related questions, please feel free to ask and I will try my best to give you a good answer. On a side note, I hope everyone has a great new year and remember to put daily flossing on your new year's resolution.
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Section: Dentistry
Q: I recently had a root canal done (1 1/2 weeks ago) my dentist said there was a lot of infection in the tooth and that he had to clean it out a lot. he did a filling also in the tooth next to it. The root Canal was done in tooth #10 and the filling in #9 which already had another filling in the center of #9 . I have been on Keflex for the last week and a half. The tooth is still very sensitive to cold and really sore. he did not put a crown on the root canalled tooth he did a core build up. The dentist office told me he xrayed the tooth after the canal adn the filling next to it and it was