A Rod

Alex Rodriguez doesn’t play as much baseball now but he can definitely be a good influencer in bringing awareness to gum disease. 

Alex Rodriguez, former major league baseball player, announced on CBS “This Morning” that he was diagnosed with “early stages of gum disease” by his dentist. It is rare to have a celebrity announce this publicly. In fact, I have yet to hear anybody famous make this declaration. I’m glad he did it and I’m glad his dentist even mentioned it to him. It allows us to have discussions about the disease.

But what does it all mean? The interview ends with Alex admitting that he does not know much about it and it would be wise to see a dentist. Does the dentist know what early stages of gum disease means? It’s a bit vague.

Gum disease can be broken into two common diagnosis, gingivitis and periodontitis. There are other diagnosis that I won’t go into detail. Gingivitis means inflammation with no bone loss around the tooth. (Inflammation is characterized by bleeding. We have a certain percentage of bleeding that we see while probing the gum pocket with a periodontal probe.) Periodontitis means inflammation with the presence of tissue attachment loss and bone loss. Most people have some sort of gum disease. It’s close to 80% of the population which means I wouldn’t be surprised if your dentist or dental hygienist has gum disease. Periodontitis is closer to 50% of the population. There are different stages of periodontitis: 1. Stage I mild, 2. Stage II moderate, 3. Stage III severe, 4. Stage IV severe with tooth loss (dependent on #).

How do we diagnose gum disease? We diagnose it by looking at xrays and by examining it clinically with a periodontal probe. The problem is using the periodontal probe. It’s painful in the presence of disease since we’re going inside the gum pocket which is not normally cleaned. Nevertheless, it should be used to diagnose.

What did Alex Rodriguez’s dentist mean by early stages of gum disease? I think he meant that Alex had mild stage I periodontitis. Early diagnosis of periodontitis is important. It’s easier to treat at an early stage. If ignored, it becomes difficult at a severe stage. The idea of replacing our bad teeth with implants doesn’t make it better. Implants are still susceptible to periodontal disease especially when left untreated.

Unfortunately for us, gum disease is commonly undetected. We can live with it and not be bothered by it. Alex Rodriguez has some nice “pearly white” teeth. This definitely “masks” his disease. For some, the white teeth are all we care about. But the disease, we must understand we can’t live with it.

As for me, do I have gum disease? Absolutely not, my gums are as tight as can be and I’m proud of it.