Guided Biofilm Therapy

WholeHealth Family Dentistry is excited to introduce you to our new biological hygiene approach. We are focusing on the biofilm of the mouth. Biofilm is the living matrix of bacterial colonies that reside in the soft deposits within the mouth. Biofilm can contain healthy and unhealthy bacteria. We know that the foundation for the diseases of the mouth develop from an imbalance within the biofilm.

When you come to your hygiene visits, we are focusing on the use of Guided Biofilm Therapy. This therapy focuses on the microbes by using a new technology called Airflow by EMS. Developed in Switzerland, the Airflow system utilizes an airflow handpiece that helps remove the biofilm efficiently with a powder, made of erythritol or sodium bicarbonate, that is encapsulated in water to gently remove the microbes within the biofilm.

Guided biofilm therapy starts with a disclosing solution which we place on the teeth to show where the biofilm is. This is a great value to you and our hygienists, because we are able to focus exactly where the biofilm is within the mouth. Disclosing also is a great aid to our patients so we can focus on better home care routines. This allows us to pinpoint where patients need to work at, this gives the hygienist more direction on what adjuncts may be needed for better access and daily removal of the biofilm.The hygienists then uses the EMS AIRFLOW system to remove the disclosed biofilm.

The EMS Air Flow system is extremely efficient at getting along and below the gum line, around orthodontic equipment, along filling margins, into the inter-proximal areas and around recession areas. The hygienists then will focus on removal of calculus (tartar) and staining deposits with an ultrasonic instrument. Our focus with Guided Biofilm Therapy is to remove deposits on the teeth, while trying to leave the tooth structure unchanged as much as possible. We are doing this by using less metal hand instrumentation and techniques that have been proven to not change the natural surface of the tooth structure.

We’ve adopted this method because we believe that the health of the mouth is the foundation of your overall health. The biofilm present on the teeth are full of microbes that can affect your overall systemic inflammation. We are focusing on working with our patients to balance the oral microbiome and to optimize health within our patients. The EMS airflow system offers the antimicrobial benefits of erythritol in this process. Erythritol powder also helps to balance the ph level around the gumline areas. Plaque and the microbes within the deposits on the teeth, when well established, can break down sugar into an acid, which contributes to decalcification of the tooth structure. Erythritol powder utilized in this new process aids the team to help remove the biofilm and neutralizes the tooth surface ph to promote a health.

Our hygiene team is excited to provide a biological process of oral care that provides a gentle method to promote health. We are seeing amazing results from our new system and look forward to sharing it with all of our patients.

Microscopic Evaluations

Our hygiene team is excited to be utilizing the use of a microscope in practice now. The foundation of biological dental hygiene is to understand the imbalance of the oral microbiome. Use of the microscope aids our team in the assessment of what types of microbes may be playing a role in the health of your mouth. Our hygienists will do a sampling of the plaque and biofilm around the teeth to prepare a microscopic slide as part of your oral assessment. This slide is shown directly after preparation within the privacy of each hygiene room. Each slide offers insight on the presence of microbes that may be at high risk for periodontal disease, gingivitis and also microbes that could contribute to decay concerns. This process helps us be better healthcare providers by being more preventive in our treatment processes, instead of waiting for symptoms of disease to progress before addressing concerns about microbes in the mouth.

We utilize the information from the microscope to direct our treatments for the appropriate types of cleanings and it aids us to help make better homecare products that can be catered to each patient.

Use of the microscope is a screening tool to understand the microbiome and risk factors for bleeding gums, potential bone loss and decay issues. We look for different shapes and mobility within the biofilm. Some microbes involved in the development of periodontal disease, which causes an immune system response resulting in bone loss, can be rod shaped, corkscrew shaped or round. We also screen for microbes that are secondary infections like yeast and protozoa. Amoeba and yeast can be problematic also with the gut health and immune system. We know certain microorganisms are tied to the systemic health of our patients, having the microscope offers insight on whether further investigation should be considered through oral DNA testing to pinpoint what the microbes are if we see an overload on our microscope exam. See videos of microscopic exams here.

Oral DNA Testing

The Oral DNA test can give us a diagnostic result of which microbes are present on our microscopic exam and helps our patients give understanding to the oral systemic connection. We are utilizing Oral DNA testing to understand periodontal pathogens present, decay pathogens and yeast concerns. After the microscope exam, if microbes are at a high level a DNA test can be completed and sent to the lab to pinpoint the exact microbes we are seeing. Oral DNA labs provide beautiful reports that give information on the microbes present, the threshold level, oral systemic connections, and possible treatment considerations. Keeping threshold levels in balance is key to our team helping to maintain oral and systemic health.