May 4, 2017

Dr. Garth Ehrlich on Chronic Bacterial Infections and the Oral-Systemic Link

Video Runtime - 0 minutes, 53 seconds

Dr. Garth Ehrlich, noted researcher on chronic bacterial infections and biofilms, talks to your patients about oral bacteria spreading to remote areas of the body and causing many systemic illnesses.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dr. Garth Ehrlich, expert researcher on chronic bacterial pathogenesis from Drexel University discusses that some of the most important research he is doing right now is establishing a link between periodontal bacteria and infections of the joints – whether they be peri-prosthetic joint infections, which means if you have an artificial joint it gets infected – or whether you have somebody with osteoarthritis and the potential causative or exacerbative effect of periodontal pathogens.

 

Peri-prosthetic joint infections – are the most common reason a joint prosthesis needs to be removed, a very traumatic procedure. 100% of revision arthroplasties (joint prosthesis replacement) result from bacterial pathogens, and in the vast majority of cases there are bacteria present that had come from the mouth.

Osteoarthritis – the vast majority of people who have osteoarthritis have periodontal pathogens in their joints. Dr. Ehrlich’s research is looking at whether these periodontal pathogens play a causative or exacerbative role in osteoarthritis.

 

Dr. Ehrlich discusses biofilms and why they are so resistant to eradication. He also says that even when the clinical appearance is good, there may be bad pathogenic bacteria present – the microbial burden is impossible to determine by visual inspection or by culture; he says you have to use DNA based methods in order to determine not only what bacteria are present, but also the number of bacteria, and then you have to treat those bacteria in order to have a better mouth and a better life.

 

Run Time: 9 minutes, 46 seconds