Postscript

Even if you brush your teeth, and in the past occasionally visited the dentist, your teeth will deteriorate steadily. You should use the dentist in order to protect your teeth from becoming bad. Consequently, you should maintain your natural teeth and not need false teeth or crowns. This could be called the best dentistry treatment.

Advancement of gingivitis begins from the end of dental eruption. If you start scaling from that time, you can maintain your teeth for life. From now on, it is not too late to begin scaling treatment. In order to continue using your teeth which you regard as being healthy throughout life, please being scaling immediately. Periodical maintenance is also effective against cavities. This is because this early treatment is one where the dentist has a clear plan of effective treatment. Early detection of problems helps leads to positive results and is possible by periodical maintenance. If undertaking monthly maintenance is made into a custom, and you can continue maintaining your teeth throughout life.

In my clinic most patients come for maintenance. Unlike scaling at the time of the first medical examination, even if scaling is carried out it is not done over inflamed gums. For maintenance while your teeth are cleaned you chat to the hygienist and then you are free to go home. It is very simple and although the dentist may find and treat a cavity about once a year because it is discovered early it ends with minimum medical treatment. Quite possibly there will be no need for medical treatment for approximately 20 years, and from the time of the first medical examination the environment in the mouth will not have changed and is protected.

Now，I have advocated about the new direction for dentistry through monthly maintenance with confidence. However, I have described the way dentistry medical treatment should be, having had a question about the present condition of dentistry medical treatment for years. People said, “Gingivitis is part of old age” or “A tooth in that fate will be lost when people reach 50 or 60 years old no matter what medical treatment is given” and I learnt such ideas and came to begin a dentistry clinic.

I was on the register for three years in an oral surgery of the medical department after graduation from university. Since it was the special environment of oral surgery of the medical department, I was also performing medical treatment of orthodontics, child dentistry, etc. in addition to the medical treatment of the patient o oral surgery with advanced diseases. I became especially interested in the medical treatment and operation of gingivitis, not to mention the bone reproduction after tooth extraction. I was able to see directly the dramatic bone reproduction seen after neoplasm extraction. Consequently, I came to think that reproduction of the alveolar bone destroyed by gingivitis is not possible.

It is also at that time that I tried the private bone transplant to the alveolar bone destroyed by gingivitis. The result was the opposite of what I expected and instead of reproducing the bone I came to realize that the condition will in fact worsen. One of my seniors said to me “Whatever you try against gingivitis is futile. At the most we can hope to carry out brushing to ease the pain a little.” His words lay heavy on my heart. Continuing at the university I realized the medical treatment and research did not suit my belief. So I chose to commence my own clinic in order to search for an original route.

“It is the dentist's job to cure the teeth, and it is a hygienist's job to maintain the teeth.”

It was a belief impudent for a young man before commencing business. I remember vividly at the start my desire to reach the light at the end of the tunnel. The belief has not changed now, even though 20 years have passed from that time. The dream of those days became true. I pray from the heart that this book which summarizes clinical experience of about 20 years gives at least one person something to think about.