Plaque-Fighting Mushroom Mouthwash? Holy Shiitake!

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DENTAL NEWS
The September issue of the Journal of Biomedicine and Biotechnology reported the results from a recent study which found that using a mouth rinse made from shiitake mushrooms significantly reduced plaque and gum inflammation in test subjects.

Researchers from Italy's University of Verona did the study because previous laboratory experiments using this type of mushroom extract suggested that it controled the growth of oral bacteria. Mushroom extracts also appear to kill oral bacteria and make it more difficult for the bacteria to stick to teeth, even though the researchers did not find that the mushroom rinse destroyed bacteria that commonly occur in dental plaque. However, researchers did find evidence that the mushroom rinse did slow the growth of some bacteria responsible for the progression of gum disease to periodontal disease.

The study involved 90 volunteers who were asked not to brush your teeth for 18 days but instead thoroughly rinse their mouths out twice daily with either the shiitake mushroom mouthwash, a water-based mouth rinse containing no active ingredients and regular Listerine mouthwash. Researchers found that after only 12 days, the subjects rinsing with the mushroom rinse had significantly less plaque than those in the water-based rinse group did, and significantly less gum inflammation than people in both the Listerine or the water-based rinse groups.

New Alternative To Dentures?

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DENTAL NEWS
The Journal of Oral Implantology is reporting a new alternative treatment to dentures that can be put in the same day of surgery. Called the "All-on-Four", this new type of treatment for teeth removal uses four implants attached using four screws that support a fixed prosthesis.

The success of the All-on-Four treatment over dentures is judged not only by its comfort and usability for the patient, but also by its longevity. To that point, the Journal of Oral Implantology cited the results of a 29-month study that used the All-on-Four implant design which found that it had a higher survival rate (92% to 99.6%) then regular implants did.

The need for a denture alternative is driven by clinical studies which have found that patients with dentures have reported only a marginal improvement in the quality of their life as they routinely complain of discomfort, poor stability and difficulty eating. Dental professionals have long seen the need to offer their patients a long-term replacement option for natural teeth that allows for a higher quality of life then dentures have traditionally offered.

With the ever-increasing number of senior citizens in the United States, it is projected that 37 million Americans will need dentures by the year 2020, which is why this latest advancement in dental implants may prove to be an important alternative to traditional denture therapy.