Gum disease reversed with ‘Coenzyme Q10’

Imagine this: unbearable pain, inflamed and bleeding gums, teeth loss, facial disfigurement, malnutrition due to inability to eat and constant embarrassment of unacceptable standards of oral hygiene. This is the scourge caused by periodontal or gum disease.

People all over the world experience some sort of a gum disease, but only a few will notice it until the damage becomes almost irreversible. Earlier, even dentists were often frustrated trying to cure gum disease. But now, research studies have provided good news for both patients and dentists – Coenzyme Q10, or simply CoQ10.

CoQ10 or ubiquinone is a fat-soluble nutrient. It plays a critical role in generating energy within the mitochondria which is the power plant of our body, especially the heart and gums. This explains why low levels of this essential enzyme have been linked to gum disease.

A study by Dr. Edward Wilkinson of the Wilford Hall US Air Force Medical Center, discovered that people with diseased gums had an unusually large deficiency of CoQ10. Remarkably, once patients with diseased gums were supplemented with CoQ10, the gum conditions actually reversed. This became the benchmark study, which led to more researches and discoveries about the benefits of CoQ10.

Wilkinson, a pioneer in periodontal studies of CoQ10, handled some of the worst case histories of patients whose damage from periodontal disease seemed irreversible. One of them involved a woman whose gum disease extended throughout her mouth and the mucous membrane of her nose and throat. Even eating became a torment. She was deemed a hopeless case.

Wilkinson decided to try her on 60 milligrams of CoQ10 per day. After only two weeks of continuous CoQ10 supplementation, the patient was able to eat normally again and her overall condition significantly improved. CoQ10 enabled patients to overcome or reverse their gum disease, even in its worst state.

CoQ10 has also been shown to aid in healing and reducing the pain following oral surgery. Further studies show that CoQ10 supplementation did not only stop the disease but an incredible rate of healing was observed as well. In fact, surgeons referred to it as an "extraordinary healing" since the gum tissues, which were expected to heal in 10 to 15 days, healed in just five days.

Aside from the gums, high concentration of CoQ10 is also found in the heart due to the high energy requirements of heart tissues. Thus, CoQ10 deficiency is also significantly correlated with heart failure and as such, CoQ10 supplementation is recommended as an effective therapy for heart disease.

CoQ10 has become one of the better-researched and substantiated "vitamin" supplements. Hundreds of studies document the multiple life-extension benefits of this versatile nutrient because it is also a powerful antioxidant, fighting free radicals that cause heart problems and age-related degenerative diseases.

Countries like Japan and United States extensively use CoQ10 to help treat both gum problems and heart failure. Here in the Philippines, Trianon CoQ10 is available as an over-the-counter food supplement in Mercury Drug stores and leading drug stores like I-Mart. It is manufactured by NOW International, one of the leading sources of high-quality CoQ10 in the United States.

Trianon CoQ10 is available as 10 and 30 mg yellow capsules and is usually prescribed by doctors at a dose of 30-60 mg daily.