Research
Research and publications in peer reviewed journals
Gum Diseases and Heart Health
Rahman & Rahman Dental Surgeons is in the forefront of world research linking gum diseases to systemic diseases in collaboration with the University of Michigan with Professor’s Wenche S. Borgnakke and Prof George Taylor, and Professor and Dean Ray C. Williams from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and currently Dean at Stony Brook, and the Straumann Dental implant company in Switzerland.
Previous research done at Rahman & Rahman Dental Surgeons ® looked at the role of gum disease and heart disease by investigating the inflammatory marker C-reactive protein and evaluating its increase or decrease after teeth extractions and dental implant placements. Our results were published in the peer reviewed international journal Clinical Oral Implant Research in 2004. (To read the article please see Rahman A. et al Prospective evaluation of the systemic inflammatory marker C-reactive protein in patients with end stage periodontitis getting teeth replaced with dental implants: a pilot investigation Clin. Oral Impl Res. 16,2005;128-131)
What this research and what others have done world-wide is to look at the role of mouth bacteria and how it effects heart functions. There is increasing evidence that a clean mouth can lead to a better heart, specially the bacteria around your gums. If you have bleeding gums then understand that the bacteria in the mouth can enter the blood stream and can go anywhere in the body, therefore it is essential that you make sure that your gums are not infected and the first sign of infection is bleeding from your gums so consult your nearby periodontist.
Gum Disease and Diabetes:
We are currently involved in a funded research looking at the role of diabetes in gum disease and have extremely encouraging results. Rahman and Rahman Dental Surgeons®is conducting this research, in collaboration with University of Michigan and Allama Iqbal/ Jinnah Hospital, titled as: ‘EFFECT OF EXTRACTIONS AND STRAUMANN DENTAL IMPLANTS ON GLYCEMIC CONTROL AND INFLAMMATORY MARKERS IN PATIENTS WITH DIABETES.’
Principal Investigator for the study is Dr.Amin ur Rahman (BDS, MPH, MS), Dr. George W. Taylor (DDS, MPH, DrPH) and Dr.Wenche S Borgnakke (DDS, MPH, PhD).
The specific aim of this project is to investigate the effect on glycemic control of extracting all teeth and providing Straumann dental implants to support over dentures in patients with type 2 Diabetes who have end-stage or severe periodontal disease requiring full mouth extraction. It also aims to investigate the effect of the treatment procedures on the inflammatory markers associated with insulin resistance and other systemic disease and condition that tend to be more prevalent in people with diabetes. The above mentioned research is tremendously benefiting the patients in their ability to masticate their food properly leading to overall improvement in their health.
This research has proven without a doubt that dental implants can be successfully placed in patients with diabetes, resulting in better control of their diabetes, providing better chewing abilities and overall better health.
Pain Research:
We are also doing research in pain in dental implants. Being the pioneers of implant dentistry in Pakistan and understanding that dental implants are a vital treatment modality to replace lost or missing teeth, we have endeavored to educate our patients in making sure that they have their teeth replaced with quality dental implants and not having teeth cut for bridges. However, most people perceive dental implant surgery to be a painful procedure and thus are afraid to have implants placed in their jaws. We have proved that having dental implants is NOT a painful procedure. We asked our patients before having dental implants how much pain they were expecting and again after the procedure how much they pain they experienced, almost all the patients told us that they had no or very little discomfort after the procedure, no one had any pain during the procedure. This paper will be published soon.