saliva

If your dentist asks to collect a sample of your saliva, try not to be too weirded out. It’s actually very common for dentists to perform saliva tests. Saliva tests are extremely easy procedures that require almost nothing from you other than a little bit of your spit. Best of all, these simple tests can save you from developing severe dental issues in the future.
At Water Tower Dental Care, we perform three different types of saliva tests to find out if you have HPV and to analyze what is causing your gum disease.

Saliva Test to Detect HPV

The most common saliva test we offer is the OralRisk HPV test. We perform this test regularly as part of your routine oral health exam to detect if you have oral HPV (Human Papillomavirus). Though HPV can eventually be identified by skin lesions, such as warts or sores, saliva tests can identify HPV early on, even before you start showing physical symptoms. Catching HPV when it first develops allows your dentist to treat it more effectively and prevent it from getting worse, which is important because it can eventually develop into cancer.

What is HPV?

HPV is one of the most common virus groups in the world. The virus can vary, from being low risk and causing warts, to being high-risk and causing cancer. Medical research has found that 90% of cervical cancers are linked to specific high-risk HPV types, according to OralDNA Labs. HPV can be caused by sexual contact or simply by close contact with another person. Research is currently being conducted to discover what else may cause HPV.

Salvia Test for Gum Disease

Along with the OralRisk HPV test, we also use saliva tests to analyze which bacteria are triggering a patient’s gum disease, or periodontal disease. We usually recommend this test, which is called MyPerioPath, to patients who have moderate-to-severe gum disease, patients who are currently receiving treatment for gum disease and are not seeing ideal results, or patients who have a great oral hygiene routine but still deal with bleeding gums. The saliva test allow us to identify what type of bacteria is causing your gum disease so that we can create a customized hygiene treatment to help you get rid of the disease once and for all.
Finally, we perform MyPerioID PST saliva tests to see if our patients with gum disease have any specific changes in their DNA, which could mean that they are at a greater risk of developing a more serious disease. This allows us to create a hygiene plan that will prevent those diseases.

What is Periodontal Disease?

Periodontal disease is simply another word for gum disease. In its most moderate state, it can be identified in the form of gum inflammation. If left untreated, it can develop into a severe disease that causes severe damage to your gums, teeth and bone. According to the FDA, 75% of all Americans over age 35 have some form of gum disease. Crazy, right? Some studies show that gum disease can also affect your overall health, not just your oral health. Gum disease is mostly caused by bad oral hygiene techniques, but can also develop as a result of smoking or chewing tobacco, crooked teeth, hormonal changes, stress, cancer, cancer treatment, poor diet, diabetes, medication, and through exchanging saliva with someone who has gum disease.

What Are Saliva Treatments Like?

Saliva treatments will probably be one of the easiest and quickest treatments you’ve ever experienced as a patient. All you have to do is swish a sterile saline solution around in your mouth for about 30 seconds. Then, you simply spit into a tube or a small container and your work is done! We’ll send the sample to OralDNA Labs and they’ll process it. When we get the results, we’ll contact you to discuss them. That’s all there is to it.
If it’s been awhile since you’ve received a saliva test for HPV or you think that you might have gum disease, come on into Water Tower Dental Care on Chicago’s Magnificent Mile. We’d love to give you the information you need to keep your teeth healthy with a customized hygiene treatment plan.

With long sunny days outdoors and exotic vacations, ‘tis the season for love. And with love comes lots of smooching! When you’re in the moment with your loved one, we’re guessing that you aren’t thinking about how your kisses are affecting your mouth. Interestingly though, kisses really do impact your oral health, both positively and negatively. Our experts are here to tell you how exactly kissing does this with juicy detail. We’ll start with the bad news first.

The Ugly Oral Health Side to Kissing

Unfortunately, kissing can cause some bad stuff to go on in your mouth. Let’s take a look at a couple of the most common ways kissing can go wrong.
You can get herpes from kissing. You don’t need to go any further than kissing to catch an STD. Herpes infection viruses can be spread through your saliva, causing cold sores or blisters on your lips, around your mouth or even inside your mouth. Though they are typically harmless, they can get pretty annoying. Worst of all, there’s no cure. So be careful who you kiss!
Bad bacteria can increase your chance of developing gum disease. If your kissing partner has gum disease, or periodontitis, you’re getting their bad bacteria inside your mouth when you kiss. In fact, you’re sharing around 80 million bacteria with them! The worse the bacteria in their mouth are, the worse it will affect your mouth.
Don’t let these two issues scare you away from kissing. As long as you and your partner take care of your mouth and teeth, and communicate any oral diseases that you have, you shouldn’t be surprised with any unhealthy oral developments. In fact, kissing is typically great for your oral health, as you’ll see below.

Healthy Kissing is Good for Your Teeth, Gums and Mouth!

Your dentist orders you to keep kissing your partner! Well, as long as they have good oral health. Here’s why:
More saliva means fewer cavities. While you’re kissing, your salivary glands begin producing more saliva. Saliva is made up of water, electrolytes, mucus, glycoproteins, enzymes and antibacterial compounds that do lots of good things, including neutralize acids in your mouth, fight off bacteria and wash away food particles. All of these changes will lead to less tooth erosion, which means your dentist should find less cavities in your teeth.
Saliva protects your tooth enamel. Saliva is amazing. Along with fighting off bacteria and acids, the mineral salts in your saliva help rebuild the minerals in your tooth enamel, protecting your teeth from erosion and cavities.
More salvia means healthier cheeks and gums. Your gums and cheeks typically heal more quickly than your skin thanks to your saliva. According to Discover Magazine, proteins like vascular endothelial growth factor help to trigger the formation of blood vessels, which boosts your mouth’s healing processes.
Sharing kisses boosts your immune system. During a quick, 10-second kiss, you transfer as much as 80 million bacteria to your partner. But don’t let that stop you from smooching. It’s actually good for you! According to a study from the Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research, sharing these bacteria during a kiss boosts your immune system, keeping you healthy.
So there you have it! You have our approval to keep kissing a healthy mouth all summer long. If you or your partner needs a cleanup before a smooch session, feel free to stop by Water Tower Dental Care on Chicago’s Magnificent Mile! We’ll not only make your mouth sparkling clean, but we’ll also make sure it looks picture perfect for your partner with our cosmetic dentistry treatments.

When you’re sipping on a glass of red wine while relaxing in front of the TV after work, you’re probably not thinking about the way the alcohol is affecting your mouth. If you drink too much alcohol on a regular basis, you may be severely damaging your mouth.
Let’s take a look at six of the most common ways alcohol affects your teeth and mouth so you can make sure you aren’t causing any permanent damage with your drink of choice.

1. Tooth Decay

You may want to lay off of the margaritas, piña coladas and sweet cocktails after reading this. Many delicious alcoholic drinks are packed with sugar. And we’re not the only ones enjoying it. Bacteria love sugar just as much as we do, feeding off of it and producing acid as they munch. Combine these acid-releasing bacteria with acidic alcoholic beverages and your teeth are on a path to decaying.
Solution: While you’re out for the evening, try to avoid sugary cocktails. Choose beer, wine or a coconut water and vodka cocktail instead. If you can’t end the night without your favorite sweet cocktail, use a straw so that the sugars skip past the majority of your teeth. Finally, always make sure to brush your teeth at least 30 minutes after you’ve consumed alcohol. Any sooner and you may further erode your enamel by brushing it.

2. Oral Cancer

Alcohol isn’t all fun and games. According to the Oral Cancer Foundation (OCF), alcohol abuse is the second largest risk factor for developing oral cancer. Alcohol can cause your gums, cheeks and skin to corrode, leading to mouth and throat cancer. When combined with smoking, a heavy drinker has an especially high risk of developing the disease. The OCF notes that alcohol dehydrates the cell walls, which allows tobacco carcinogens to spread throughout your mouth more easily. Heavy drinking can also lead to nutritional deficiencies that lower your body’s ability to fight off cancer.
Solution: As long as you aren’t a heavy drinker, you shouldn’t run into this problem. Try to keep your drinking to moderate levels, which is defined as one drink a day if you’re a woman, and two drinks a day if you’re a man, according to National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.

3. Enamel Erosion

Every time you drink alcohol, you’re usually exposing your teeth to highly acidic liquid. This causes enamel, the protective calcium coating on your skin, to erode. When your enamel wears away enough, you’ll notice your teeth are more sensitive and you’re more susceptible to cavities. Worst of all, enamel can’t naturally grow back. Once it’s gone, it’s gone forever.
Solution: Try to avoid carbonated alcoholic drinks, as they are usually more acidic. Drinking water in between alcohol will also help to wash away the acids in your mouth.

4. Dry Mouth

Instead of keeping your mouth wet, alcohol actually dries it out. You know how you have to take all those extra trips to the bathroom while you’re drinking? It’s because alcohol is a diuretic. In other words, it dehydrates you by making you urinate more than usual. Less liquid in your body means less saliva in your mouth. Since saliva fights off bacteria, your risk of gum disease and tooth decay increases while you’re drinking. You’ll also probably have pretty bad breath.
Solution: Try to drink at least one glass of water in between your alcoholic drinks. Mints and sugar-free gum can also help to increase your saliva production.

5. Gum Disease

A couple of the ways that alcohol can increase your risk of developing gum disease have already been mentioned: bacteria feeding off of sugary drinks, nutritional deficiencies and lack of saliva. Additionally, alcohol has been found to irritate gum tissue and alcohol abusers tend to have poor dental hygiene habits, according to the Drug & Alcohol Rehab Asia. All of this leads to a much higher risk of developing gum disease conditions, which can range from swollen gums to dangerous infections.
Solution: Avoid heavy drinking. If you do drink, make sure to brush practice good oral hygiene at least 30 minutes after drinking by brushing your teeth at least twice a day and correctly flossing.