Word: gum
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...Gum disease is not something to be ignored. It starts out harmlessly enough, perhaps with just a little blood on the toothbrush. But the bacteria responsible are relentless. If left alone, they eventually produce infected pockets of pus, invade the roots of teeth and put people on the path to being Polident users. As many as 3 of every 4 Americans are somewhere along that path...
...gets out of hand, the treatment used to save the teeth is not pleasant. Wielding sharp metal tools, periodontists scrape germ-laden plaque from around the teeth and under the gumline. If that doesn't work, the usual next step is oral surgery that carves away pieces of infected gum...
...strategy involves implanting into the gums antibiotics or other germ killers so that they can attack bacteria in the pockets where they fester. Standard antibiotic pills, which some specialists have relied on, needlessly expose the entire body to a powerful drug and have not always proved effective. Gum disease "behaves like a chronic type of inflammatory disease," explains Kenneth Kornman, a professor of periodontics at the University of Texas in San Antonio. "We have a hard time eliminating those bacteria." For that reason, dental researchers decided to concentrate the antibiotics' killing power by applying medication directly into infected areas...
...most promising of the new therapies, first available in Italy, is a product called Actisite. It looks something like dental floss but actually consists of an organic fiber coated with the antibiotic tetracycline. Packed deep in the gums, the medicinal thread remains in place for seven to 10 days. Thanks to a time-release formula, the antibiotic slowly diffuses through the infected area, attacking the gum-destroying germs. According to one study, Actisite delivers 300 times as much tetracycline to the crevice where the thread is placed as a gram's worth of pills would...
...with uncharacteristic introspection. "Certainly no acrimony." The night before his last NBC show, Letterman recalled, "Bob Wright came up to the office, and we sat and we talked for about an hour. And he gave me some very nice gifts." And what were the gifts? "Oh, a pack of gum...