Chewing Gum Test
Dental implants is the most advanced dental treatment to date. Implants give back smiles & confidence lost due to trauma & dental diseases.
Unfortunately, the treatment is not bullet proof. 5-15% of patients develop an inflammatory response in the years following implant placement. This is caused by inflammatory bacteria which attack oral soft tissues & can destroy the bone around the implant as well.
Developed by a pharmaceutical research team at the Julius-Maximilians-Universität (JMU) in Würzburg, Germany, a simple chewing gum-based diagnostic test for inflammatory bacteria will soon become available. In the presence of inflammation, specific protein-degrading enzymes are activated in the mouth to break down the special chewing gum ingredient.
This triggers release of a bittering agent that could not have been tasted before. The diagnosis is thus made & treatment is initiated. This type of early detection aims at prevention of serious complications of implant therapy such as bone loss & implant failure.
Other Articles
