Service Awards
10 Years
Five Years
Bonnie Crawford
Alfred Lane III
Alissa Lane
Bonnie McAlpine
Willard Metcalf
Robert Smith
Cathern Tufts
Sherry Addis
Frank Aspria
Cherity Bloom-Miller
Jamie Bokuro
Randy Christensen
Bobbi Foley
Tracy Lancaster
Jeremy Mason
Marlene Owen
John Pfleiger
Debra Taylor
15 Years
Kelley Ellis
Valerie Hibdon
Pamela Lane
Chuvonne Metcalf
20 Years
Five years: Cherity Bloom-Miller, Frank Aspria, Marlene Owen, Randy
Christensen, Tracy Lancaster, John Pfleiger, Bobbi Foley, Jeremy Mason, Jamie
Bokuro and Sherry Addis.
Brenda Bremner
DeAnn Brown
25 Years
Selene Rilatos
30 Years
Cheryl Lane
35 Years
Karen Bell
35 years: Karen Bell (above)
30 years: Cheryl Lane (below)
Photos by Diane Rodriquez
15 years: Kelley Ellis and 25 years:
Selene Rilatos (right)
10 years: Robert Smith, Bonnie McAlpine, Cathern Tufts and
Alfred Lane III (above)
15 years: Valerie Hibdon, Chuvonne Metcalf and Pamela Lane
(below)
Tooth Talk: New Year’s resolutions and probiotics to help care for teeth
By Mary Ellen Volansky, EPDH, MS
Might your 2014 New Year’s reso-
lution be to increase your level of oral
health? Are you going to floss more days
of the week? Or brush more thoroughly,
stretching to reach all the surfaces of all
your teeth and do it twice a day?
One aspect of good oral health and
good body health is common to both, the
presence of inflammation. Inflammation
in our blood vessels is where clots form,
where fat/plaque builds up. This build-up
causes narrowing that can lead to block-
age of a blood vessel in anyone’s heart
or brain.
Gum disease, also called periodontal
disease or pyorea, has inflammation with
it too. Inflammation of our gums is vis-
ible when gums are puffy, sore and red.
This inflammation makes our gums bleed,
makes them swell and become tender to
brushing, flossing or eating.
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Inflammation also causes bone loss,
which makes teeth movable. Enough
bone lost around a tooth and that tooth
comes out.
Up to 47 percent of adults age 30 and
older have either mild, moderate or severe
periodontitis, according to the Center for
Disease Control and Prevention. The rate
of periodontal disease increases to 64
percent for those over age 65.
Men have periodontitis more than
women (56 percent vs. 38 percent for
women). Minorities, those with less than
a high school education and those below
100 percent of the poverty level experi-
ence even greater rates of periodontal dis-
ease (65, 67 and 67 percent, respectively).
And according to the American Den-
tal Association, periodontal disease can be
treated and managed, which we do at the
Siletz Dental Clinic for all our patients.
January 2014
Now we’re back to that New Year’s
resolution, the means to prevent periodontal
disease, bone loss and tooth loss common
with this disease. You say you are not all
that into brushing and flossing, especially
flossing daily? I’ve never heard of such ...
Early last December while checking
for school closings on my iPhone, I saw
an article from National Public Radio.
(I can’t believe I just told you I have an
iPhone.) Anyway, this article was titled
Microbiome Candy: Could a Probiotic
Mint Help Prevent Cavities? Yes, there
seriously are others who try to help us
home care-challenged individuals avoid
oral disease.
Good news for all of us – it seems
that scientists are busy looking for ways
to make home care easy and helpful. OK,
home care that people are more likely
to do than flossing. One such new effort
by the science community is a probiotic
candy. Probiotics sound manageable when
I consider that most of us eat yogurt.
This sugarless candy has a mint flavor
and is made with “dead bacteria.” After
screening nearly 800 types of bacteria,
researchers found one that might help
prevent cavities. This one bacterium, lac-
tobacilla paracasei, either dead (in yogurt
and kefir) or alive (inside our mouths)
might be helpful.
Lactobacilla paracasei prevents strep-
toccocus mutans from collecting or living
on our teeth. Since streptoccocus mutans
is the major cause of tooth decay, this
appears to be a good thing.
There might be a catch – we don’t
know if preventing streptoccocus mutans
from living on our teeth actually prevents
decay. So give the researchers more time
to test this idea out.
While I wait, I’ll toast some kefir to
a healthful New Year for us all.