Cavities and Oral Microbiome in Malaysia

In this video, Dr. Nammy Patel recounts the story of Donnie, a man in his 60s troubled by a bitter taste and multiple cavities despite regular dental visits. Concerned by high levels of red light bacteria in his oral microbiome—signals of systemic issues like Alzheimer’s risk—and the presence of dry mouth, Dr. Patel conducted a thorough assessment. He then administered deep cleaning and laser ozone therapy, achieving a 59% reduction in harmful bacteria. Although some red light bacteria remain due to Donnie’s ongoing mouth breathing and potential apnea, this case highlights how a holistic, data-driven approach to dental care can mitigate oral infections and lower broader health risks.

Dr. Nammy Patel: Hi, it’s Dr. Nammy again, and I wanted to share with you some more information about what we do in our practice and how we help patients like you. So, I am going to share with you a story about one of my really dear patients. His name is Donnie. Wonderful guy in his 60s and came to me because he said, “Dr. Patel, I’ve been going to the dentist every three months. I have a bitter taste in my mouth and they told me I needed six cavities. And I don’t understand that because I go in like clockwork. I take care of myself and I don’t understand what’s happening. How could I have all these cavities just appear within three months?” And so, I said, “Okay, well, let’s take a look.”

Microbiome Reports

The first thing we started is we did is for a microbiome report. And because there’s in the 60s, the second thing that I did look at is going to be his airway. So, I’ll talk to you a little bit more about that down the road in another video. But I wanted to focus on his gums because that was his chief concern.

So, here we go. This is his oral microbiome results. This is Johnny. And so, again, we’re looking at green light bacteria, yellow light bacteria, and red light bacteria. In his case, he’s 60 years old, so I’m really concerned, for two reasons.

Number one, obviously the red light bacteria made me concerned off the bat. Second of all, what makes me really concerned is seeing these guys above the threshold. When I see that bar, which is a quotient, so 10th to the third power, 10th to the fourth power, 10th to the fifth power, when we see that, we see that we have a lot of activity, a lot of bugs in his mouth. So, I do not want to see that.

Deep Cleaning and Laser Ozone

So, I had him come in. We did his oral, well, obviously deep cleaning, laser ozone in our protocols to figure out exactly what’s going on. He actually has some dry mouth as well. So, we did talk about more dry mouth therapy and things like that. And about six to eight weeks later, this is the results that we’re looking at. We have a 59% reduction. Not a 100%, that’s okay. But we’re looking at a 59% production reduction in bacteria, which is really awesome to see.

And also, some of these guys are completely gone, which is amazing. There’s little of the ICR is completely gone, these are below the threshold. These guys have significantly lowered. So, we’re really happy to see the results of this case. He still has a little bit of red light bacteria, mainly because we’ve discovered he is got apnea, and we do need to address that because there’s no way this is going to go completely to zero if he’s continuously mouth breathing and creating a dry environment. So, we’re addressing that down the road.

Reduction in Bacteria

But just again, looking at the results of all the red light bacteria, just bringing them down threshold, bringing these down to the threshold is amazing because his biggest concern was Alzheimer’s. He’s 60 years old, doesn’t want to deal with Alzheimer’s. We got rid of the PG completely. He was also concerned about acid reflux, where we’ve got some PI coming from the belly up.

So, we’ve reduced that completely. So, it’s been really nice to see his approach. And also he comes in and says, “My mouth feels fresh.” He’s super happy about the staff. He’s learned so much about all his questions answered. And he really got a holistic view of what was going on with his body. He is not crazy. Everything he was feeling was accurate and on point, and needed attention. So, I’m so grateful that the universe directed him toward our practice so we can help him.

Providing Life-Changing Oral Treatments

But it’s so wonderful to give people results that really are life-changing, to know that we’ve reduced his chances for Alzheimer’s, heart attack, diabetes, cancers. And even helped him looking at his apnea, which has been misdiagnosed, or underdiagnosed or not diagnosed at all by the medical profession, and really looking at how can we make sure that he lives a long, healthy life. So, really excited. And really excited to share this information with you. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out. We’re here to support you. 415-433-0119. And I look forward to taking care of you.