Will You Lose Your Teeth? Just Ask Drs. Levine and Fava!

Drs. Levine and Fava can predict if their patients will lose specific teeth—and no crystal balls are required!

Dr. Miller (left) is shown accepting the AAP Clinical Research Award for 2015 for most outstanding clinical study.

A guest article by Dr. Levine, titled “Patients: Will You Lose Your Teeth?” discusses how he and Dr. Fava utilize a new tool to help predict future tooth loss in our patients. In the article, recently featured on the popular dental network site WebDental, Dr. Levine explains how he and Dr. Fava work with the new Miller-McEntire Periodontal Prognostic Index. The doctors look at factors like diabetic status, tooth mobility and smoking status to determine the exact probability of a patient’s tooth loss within a 15-30 year timeframe.

In the Miller-McEntire index, smoking, in particular, is highly linked to periodontal disease. “Smoking is so closely related to periodontal disease that smokers increase their chances of losing their teeth by 246%,” explains Dr. Levine in the WebDental article.

The Miller-McEntire periodontic tool was developed by Preston D. Miller, Jr., DDS, a personal friend of both Drs. Levine and Fava. Dr. Miller personally trained Drs. Levine and Fava when the renowned periodontist visited the Pennsylvania Center for Dental Implants and Periodontics in 2014.

Dr. Miller and Dr. Fava

One more interesting tidbit: It turns out that, like Dr. Levine, Dr. Miller is a real civil war buff. In his spare time he and Dr. Levine have visited eight major Civil War battlefield sites together, including Gettysburgh, PA, Vicksburg, MS, Antietam, MD and Franklin TN. Both doctors belong to a civil war history group which Dr. Levine has led yearly since 2008.

You can read Dr. Levine’s article here.