health care – Downtown Magazine

Lasers are leading in gum health at Frank Celenza’s dentistry practice.

EVERYONE KNOWS THAT flossing and brushing are critical to maintain the perfect smile—but care of the gums is equally important and frequently neglected. Ignoring the gums can result in gingivitis, and prevention is a great reason to go for regular dental hygiene visits. If left untreated, gingivitis can result in periodontitis—the leading cause of tooth loss in adulthood. Fortunately, this is a treatable condition, and lasers are leading in gum health to promote the solution.

Traditional periodontitis treatments often include scraping the teeth, and frequently more invasive surgical treatments designed to provide access to the tooth root surfaces, say’s Dr. Frank Celenza. Unfortunately, although effective, this procedure can be uncomfortable, difficult to master, and often includes unpleasant healing experiences, not to mention aesthetic concerns.

Although not new, laser therapy is gaining momentum among periodontists for its effectiveness and acceptance by patients. Energy is absorbed by inflamed tissue without harming healthy tissue, and destructive bacteria that have invaded the gum tissue are destroyed.

There are many applications of laser treatment, but two in particular are gaining acceptance in the periodontal community. The Laser Assisted New Attachment Procedure (LANAP) is the only FDA recognized and approved treatment for periodontitis that can claim to regenerate lost support for the teeth. It is proving to be a far more acceptable and comfortable procedure for moderate to advanced cases than traditional periodontal surgery, and typically results in less recession. Alternatively, Laser Pocket Disinfection (LPD) can be used to control gingivitis, and is easily performed by a dental hygienist as an adjunct to a regular hygiene visit.

In both cases, a thin laser fiber is introduced painlessly into the gum sulcus around the teeth, allowing light energy to penetrate deep into the tissues. This helps reduce inflammation, kills bacteria, softens deposits on the roots, and allows for deeper cleaning. The sulcus is then sealed with the laser to form a clot that initiates a regenerative healing response.

Laser treatment is also showing great promise as a means to decontaminate and treat ailing implants, as with the Laser Assisted Peri-Implantitis Procedure (LAPIP). Implants do not respond to conventional periodontal treatments largely because their surfaces are designed to be much rougher than tooth surfaces. The LAPIP method, which also utilizes light energy, can be an effective way to treat exposed and contaminated implant surfaces.

From the patient’s perspective, laser treatments are much less disruptive than traditional surgical methods. There is no surgical incision, and no need for suturing. Post-operative discomfort is a rare occurrence, and normal daily activity can be quickly resumed. As more and more links between oral and systemic health are becoming understood, finding a periodontist that is trained in laser treatment or asking your dentist for a referral to one can be a very beneficial health measure, both from a preventive and a reparative standpoint.

Lesley Barth has often wrestled with a sense of feeling like an outsider in her own life. The questions arising around the key to happiness; a sense of identity that deems outside validation unnecessary; the corporate grind. What is it all for, in the end? Barth’s hunger for a meaningful, mindful existence has resulted in her stellar sophomore album, Big Time Baby, all with a feminine 70s-pop sheen reminiscent of Jenny Lewis. Drawing frequent comparisons to songwriting greats such as Joni Mitchell, Carole King, and Fleetwood Mac, with a commanding and singular voice reminiscent of Natalie Merchant, Barth shapes these influences into a mixture of confessional songwriting, poetry, and wry observations about human nature. Big Time Baby is an album about feeling isolated, wearing masks, failing, rebuilding yourself, questioning societal norms, and the quicksand that is our modern non-stop notifications, performance-driven, social-media-optimized life.

“I learned that you can’t perform your life and live your life at the same time,” says Barth. “There are moments where performing is what’s required. But if we don’t take the mask off from time to time and connect to who we really are, I can tell you from experience that one day you will wake up and not recognize who you are and the life you’ve built for yourself. I hope this album gives people hope that, no matter how uncomfortable or out of place they feel in their life, they can change it by finding the courage to take off the mask and really get to know who they are underneath.”

Barth paired her artistry with Philadelphia producer Joe Michelini (American Trappist, River City Extension). The resulting three singles, all tinged with that 70s songwriter groove, speak to various stages of the process of redefining her life. Woman Looking Back at Me, a disco-flavored tune, seeks to understand negative self-talk and distance Barth from the critical voice in her head. The neon-cowboy-hued Nashville tries to understand better the internal demons that keep us away from the lives we want, and the catchy and empowering You Gotta Hand it to the Man is an indictment of the ubiquity of a patriarchal society and capitalism gone awry, with accompanying video criticizing the precariousness of the American health care system: “Almost all the savings I had for quitting my job got wiped away by healthcare costs, and I had to scramble.”

Lower East Side sees Barth immediately admitting to failure and a sense of unreadiness for the journey ahead.

“Making this album has been a rejection of the concept of ‘big time’ and ‘small time;’ living for other people’s validation is what got me into the whole mess of a life that felt foreign to me, so I wanted this album to be a declaration of who I am,” says Barth. She penned the album as her life became uprooted, and recorded it as she navigated the uncertainty of the structure of the gig economy.

“It’s an album for these uncertain times where many people feel their lives have been stripped to the bone, they’ve woken up from a daydream, and they weren’t sure what tomorrow would bring because that’s where I felt I was when I wrote it,” says Barth.

Sign o’ the times. Enjoy Big Time Baby.