I began recommending Oxyfresh products in my Practice Limited to Periodontics in 1997, after attending an open table forum at an Academy of Periodontology meeting. I began personally using the products for 6 months prior to integrating them into my Practice.
What I realized almost immediately, with my own oral health, was a change in how my mouth felt upon waking in the morning. I no longer felt my teeth were “wearing socks” in the a.m. and I realized a positive change with my breath.
In addition to this, I was researching the product’s ingredients to better understand how it was able to create this change. What I now know is that Oxyfresh (with Oxygene®, stabilized chlorine dioxide) changes the make-up of the bacterial flora in our mouth, which directly affects the ability of the bacteria to cause damage to the periodontium (all those structures which support our teeth and jaw).
The Products We Use Matter
As a periodontist, I must guide patients to acquire the ability to maximize plaque control by doing all possible to minimize the activity of bacteria, especially gram-negative anaerobes. A periodontist long before me created this product we now know as Oxyfresh to address these same concerns.
What we want for optimal oral health is a product that is not full of detergents (which can dehydrate gingival and mucosal tissues), a product that is not acidic (leading to further issues like decay/cavities), and a product that works to control gingivitis and periodontitis by changing the bacterial flora in our mouth (stabilizes the bacteria in the mouth and their ability to invade/destroy healthy structures like bone and teeth).
We have so many over-the-counter products that have absolutely become a huge source of referral for my Practice (due to the damage they impose). As a periodontist, I must educate my patients on how to know what products promote the growth of bacteria which cause periodontal disease and how to AVOID these products.
Helping Patients to Better Support Their Oral Health
I personally was educated to believe that achieving optimal oral health is 50% what dentists do for a patient and 50% what a patient does on a daily basis. To be an effective clinician, I MUST enable my patients to understand how they are to support their own oral health.
What I have realized over the last 25+ years of including Oxyfresh products in every single patient encounter I have, is less surgery for my patients and more long-term stability of their oral health. This means that my patients can many times avoid costly periodontal surgery by optimizing their plaque control and choosing products that support their plaque control regimen (versus using products which promote bacterial activity).
You see, gingivitis is inflammation of the tissues surrounding our teeth and periodontal disease is when these bacteria began to invade the health of the bone and other structures that support our teeth. My focus must be to help my patient understand the nature of this bacteria and how they destroy bone health and then continue to create an inflammatory response throughout the body, leading to heart disease and a host of other systemic issues that have been directly linked to periodontal disease.
What we use to brush our teeth and rinse our mouth with has a direct connection to improving our overall health.**
My disclosure:
**I am not a KOL, nor am I paid for any endorsement of Oxyfresh products. It has always been my goal that my patients realize a distinct separation between my recommending Oxyfresh and any monetary gain to me in selling this product. I want my patients to realize that I only support Oxyfresh because I personally have found it to be the single best product to achieve optimal oral health. For this reason, I always encourage patients to purchase product directly from the company or through Amazon when convenient.
Donna Thomas-Moses, DMD
