Ozone; The Revolution In Dentistry

Dr Julian Holmes1 , 1 Dr Julian Holmes, Hunters Moon Lodge, 57 Southern Cross Drive, Constantia 7806, Cape Town, South Africa. Tel; +27 21 794 5001 Fax; +27 794 0184. E-Mail julianholmes@mweb.co.a or julian@o3dc.co.uk

Ozone has been shown to clinically reverse dental carious lesions in research conducted in the United Kingdom and Europe. Ozone and ozone-treated plant extracts have been observed to control pain and accelerate healing. Objectives: This presentation will chart the history of research into dental caries. A number of studies by Dr Julian Holmes and other authors will be used to illustrate that the effective use of modern diagnostic equipment and the use a novel ozone delivery system (HealOzone unit, KaVo GmbH, Germany) makes the amputation of dental tissues by ‘drill ’n fill’ obsolete. Methods: Dental Caries is considered as an infective process. Over 150 published scientific studies with various population groups have shown that ozone eliminates the bio-environments that are the causative agents for dental caries. These double blind, randomized and controlled studies have between 20 to 193 subjects each; control and test lesions were present in every subject, and the age range was from 18 months to 89 years of age. Lesions were randomly allocated to one of two groups: ozone or air (no-ozone) treatment, from 10 seconds to 40 seconds treatment time. Patients were recalled up to 24 months after treatment, and the lesions were clinically re-assessed for their severity. Results: In all studies, there were no adverse reactions recorded. In all studies, there was a positive out come for lesions treated with ozone – ie, they arrested and reversed. The arrest and reversal rate in these published studies varies from 68% to 100% (P<0.05). The control lesions in these studies remained unchanged or got worse. In studies that were carried out to look at subject anxiety scores, there was unanimous agreement that ozone treatment would be requested in future in preference to traditional ‘drill and fill’. Conclusions: This treatment regime using ozone may be considered an effective alternative to conventional "drilling and filling" for carious lesions in dental practice. The use of ozone is cheap, fast, simple, clinically proven and cost effective for centrally funded dental care programs. New delivery designs may point the way to routine ‘dental-spas’ for caries and oral infection prevention.