I work at a dentist office. I knew nothing about dentistry before I started except that I carry gold in my mouth and my granddaughter calls them rings. “Pop, you have rings in your mouth!” After 2 plus years in the office I now know a little bit more. I know that they are not called “rings” but crowns.
A few months ago, one of our hygienist brought to me the idea of doing saliva testing for our patients.
I didn’t know it was a thing.
I now know it is absolutely a thing…and a pretty cool thing too.
When you spit into a tube and we send it off to the lab we are testing for bacteria in your mouth. There is both good and bad bacteria there. The good ones keep your mouth healthy and balanced while the bad fight to create holes in your teeth, hurt your gums and then travel throughout your body causing issues. Many health issues start in your mouth – start with these mean, little bacterium (see, I learned the plural of bacteria!). Through saliva testing, we can possibly help you identify things going on with your health and help our patients with a plan to move in a positive direction.
I did a test. Everything looked good except one type of bacteria. As we were going through a training session on how to read the test results the doctor/trainer asked if I had trouble sleeping. I said that I snore and never feel fully rested. He said my results point to this and I should probably do a sleep study and start taking nitric oxide supplements. Very interesting he could see this through my spit.
Another person did a test – let’s call him Bob. The results were different than mine but still pretty good. However, the same doctor/trainer asked if Bob had some sinus issues. Bob said he didn’t think so. The trainer said that the results suggest that there is some bacteria hiding in the body somewhere and potentially causing some issues. He pointed out that this bacteria usually likes to hide in the sinuses and he suggested a CBCT to take a look. A CBCT is sort of like an x-ray on steroids giving you a 3-d type image of your head. We did this and what did we find?
We don’t know
But we found something in one of his sinuses that we didn’t think is supposed to be there so now he is going to follow-up with her doctor. It is probably nothing but he – and we – found this fascinating.
The trainer look at other tests and could identify smokers, folks that may have diabetes, cardiovascular issues and more. Again…fascinating.
Most everything you put in your body comes through your mouth. Your mouth plays a huge role in keeping you healthy. Saliva testing is a way, a tool in your tool box, that can help you as you build a healthy life.
Here’s a little something to freak you out…
MattMunnell.com 