New Antibiotic Seems To Be A Promising Treatment For Gum Disease

Periodontal disease has always been the leading cause for tooth loss in adults. It is the infection of the tissues that hold your teeth in place. Periodontal disease, more commonly known as gum disease, is caused when plaque isn’t removed. When left in your mouth, plaque begins to harden into tartar, which cannot be cleaned by brushing.

It’s at this point when you need a dentist or a dental hygienist to remove tartar through the use of special tools. If left uncleaned, well, you can say that food literally rots in your mouth. Gum disease, if left untreated, will lead to a plethora of dangers such as sore, or worse, bleeding gums. It can also cause pain during chewing, and worst of all, it can also lead to tooth loss.

Luckily, a new antibiotic is currently being developed at the University of Virginia. This new drug called Amixicile was found to be effective in the fight against anaerobic bacteria, which are one of the primary causes of advanced gum disease.

What sets Amixicile apart from other antibiotics is that it is extremely difficult for bacteria to develop a resistance to the antibiotic because it works differently from its counterparts. While most antibiotics kill bacteria indiscriminately, Amixicile instead targets and impedes specific virulence traits that render the bacteria practically harmless.

Amixicile was found to effectively inhibit the growth of several species of gum disease-causing bacteria called Treponema spirochetes. Not only that, but the antibiotic was also found to reduce the ability of bacteria to penetrate tissue and to cause inflammation. However, the development of this new antibiotic shouldn’t be a reason for you to wantonly neglect your dental health.

As the old adage says, it is better to stop something bad from happening than it is to deal with it after it has happened. Simply cleaning your teeth regularly will be enough to keep bacteria and plaque from growing into a problem. It also helps to have a regular checkup by a licensed dentist to ensure that your teeth are in good condition as well as to remove any tartar that may have developed since your last visit to the dental office.

It’s been an old story that recurs every so often. When you fail to take care of something, you’re bound to lose it eventually or you end up with a problem that’s unnecessarily bigger than the measures that you could have taken to resolve it. As previously stated, gum disease is a real threat to your health and once your teeth and gums begin to hurt, you may want to contact some of the professionals at Emergency Dentists USA to help you with your plight.

And while we may have a multitude of measures in place that we can definitely rely on, the fact is that these shouldn’t be treated like the magic pills that are the cure to every ill. As we continue to develop better ways to treat a multitude of diseases, we should also try to focus on developing better ways to prevent the diseases we seek to overcome.

  amixicile