Ogden Dentist Video #20:
What is Trench Mouth?
In this video, Dr. Jim Ellis, DDS (a dentist in Ogden, Utah) discusses the term ‘trench mouth’.
Trench mouth is formally known as Vincent’s stomatitis, acute necrotizing ulcerative gingivitis (ANUG) and necrotizing ulcerative gingivitis (NUG). Trench mouth is an older term used to describe periodontal disease.
You can take as much care of your teeth as you want, but you also have to take care of the surrounding structures. Your teeth are supported inside of your head by your gums and by your jaw bone. When you floss, your floss disappears underneath your gums just a little bit. There is a little mote, as in a castle or a trench, around each tooth, it’s supposed to be there, and it’s supposed to be about 2 or 3 millimeters deep in healthy people. Problem comes in when you don’t get that cleaned out either by yourself or professionally. The food gets packed down in there around the teeth and the bacteria just kind of go crazy down in the gums. It makes the gums very inflamed, very red, and very painful. It actually begins to deteriorate the bone supporting the teeth and then the gums follow suit with the bone. You can actually lose perfectly healthy teeth because there is simply no supporting structure around. Taking care of the gums and the bone around the teeth is just as important as taking care of the teeth themselves.
Hopefully, this video has answered your question. If you have any other questions, we have a whole library of videos. If there is something that you have that hasn’t been answered, you can feel free to give me a call at (801) 783-3490. Thank you so much and have a good day.
Video Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLabRZfJRt0
