Robert G. Jones graduated summa cum laude from the University of Missouri, Kansas City dental school in 1949. After practicing for five or six years in Tulsa, Oklahoma, he was now proud to be known as “Doc” Jones. His practice had grown large, he had garnered respect in the community and had a nice house east of town. He was prosperous, with a successful practice and a new home for his growing family. By all rights he should have been happy.
It had very slowly dawned on Dr. Jones that what he was doing day in and day out was not what he expected when he enrolled in dental school after World War II. He was deeply disappointed with the dental office routine of drilling, filling and billing. Dr. Jones was continually trying to learn new things to help his patients, maybe even prevent the pain and suffering he witnessed daily.
Dental school had taught him that, more or less, cavities happened for any number of reasons, and teeth fell out because you got old. Dr. Jones realized he was more of a fancy jeweler than a man of science and medicine. Gold crowns, gold fillings, gold bridges and finally expensive dentures. This made him feel like he had failed as a dentist.
On a trip to the University of Houston dental school to take a course in periodontology, the professor there told Dr. Jones about Charles C. Bass, M.D., the retired Dean of the Tulane University College of Medicine in New Orleans. Dr. Bass was telling anybody and everybody who would listen that he had discovered the true cause of caries, and it was linked to periodontal disease. Being a microbiologist, Dr. Bass approached the problem differently than the field of dentistry had done for decades. He saw the evidence in a different way.
Bass’ theory, in part, was that large numbers of all types of bacteria lived in the mouth, this flora and fauna being a normal part of our world. Unless organized into biofilm of complex nature, they do us no harm. However, when refined carbohydrates became a large part of the human diet, those same bacteria thrived and grew in larger numbers than before. To handle all the new members of this growing little organized world of bacteria, the colony could bring in nutrients, and pump out the waste generated. If left undisturbed for long enough, the colony thrives. The waste of the colony attacks the enamel of the tooth to produce caries, and after enough time, periodontal infection sets in and destroys the periodontal ligaments causing the teeth to fall out..
Dr. Bass discovered that it takes roughly twenty four hours for this type of oral bacterial colony to organize. His evidence indicated that if re-organization could be disrupted, perhaps tooth decay and gum disease could be entirely prevented.
Dr. Bass examined all the toothbrushes and dental floss then available to the public. With his knowledge of the disease process, and how it works to make a cavity, none of the toothbrushes or floss did what Bass referred to as “disrupting and disorganizing” the bacterial colony. He had to develop the specifications and determine what is the best, most effective design for both toothbrush and floss.
Nylon seemed best for floss, as silk was in short supply because of WWII. Dr. Bass learned all he could about nylon and tried to fit the nylon to the bacterial challenge. The thinnest nylon, gathered in multiple strands and gently twisted seemed to work best.
Looking at toothbrushes under his microscope, it surprised him to see that the bristles were sharp, rough and jagged. He even went so far as to do an experiment. He brushed the teeth of canine subjects using the toothbrushes of the day. Then, doing a cell assay, found numerous torn cells from the oral mucosa of the dogs, blood and various bacteria. Dr. Bass decided that to do any good, a toothbrush first should not do any harm. Carefully polishing the tips of the bristles solved the first problem.
Dr. Bass did more experiments and decided that nylon bristles seven thousandths of an inch in diameter gave the best results. This made the bristles very soft, compared to the hard bristles that dentists were advocating at the time. Even the length of the handle, its mass and weight were optimized for the purpose. Too long of a handle, and too much leverage is too easily imparted. Too bulky or heavy a handle and the delicate manipulation and direction with intent required by the Bass method is impaired.
Dr. Bass insisted that anyone who wanted to learn his theories and methods required two weeks in the lab at Tulane to fully understand the subject. Dr. Jones took time off from his practice. With the evidence right in front of him. Dr. Jones asked Dr. Bass for some toothbrushes and floss to try with his patients back in Tulsa. Oral Health Products, Inc. had its beginning then and there.
Today, Charles Bass, M.D., is rightly considered the father of personal oral hygiene.
The toothbrushes and dental floss he specified are produced by
Oral Health Products, Inc., in Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA.
|
|