9. Assessing And Montioring Patient’s Dental Biofilms

Question 1

LOs

Answer 1

Question 2

Periodontal disease definition

Answer 2

Inflammatory diseases of the periodontal tissues which are caused by interactions between the bacteria in the dental biofilm and host immune and inflammatory responses

Question 3

Dental plaque definition

Answer 3

• Complex microbial community that can only form on hard, non-shedding surfaces in the mouth
• complex bacterial community is always embedded in the matrix from salivary and bacterial origin

Question 4

Electron microscope, mature dental biofilm

Answer 4

Question 5

Detecting dental biofilm

Answer 5

• dental biofilm is not usually visible by the naked eye
• only visible by naked eye if there’s an abundance of it (usually along the gingival margin and inter-proximal areas as stagnant areas where this isn’t natural cleaning or shedding forces of movement of oral mucosa)

-if not visible by the naked eye use disclosing agents to detect even a small amount as it can increase risk of periodontal disease and gingival inflammation

Question 6

What are disclosing agents?
How do they work?

Answer 6

Question 7

How to apply disclosing agent to patients

Answer 7

• ask patient to gently rinse mouth to remove materia alba
• apply different disclosing solutions (can be liquid, or tablets)
• ask patient to gently to rinse again → any substances retained on surface but not bound onto dental biofilm will be rinsed off
• then proceed with dental biofilm identification

Question 8

Dyes commonly used as disclosing agents

Answer 8

Question 9

Advantages of disclosing agents

Answer 9

Question 10

What are the plaque indices we can use?

Answer 10

1) criteria plaque index (Silness & Loe, 1964)

2) O’Leary plaque score →
one used on clinics