Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Hygienists Association
2011
In the U.S., the fields of dentistry and medicine
have traditionally been worlds apart. But in light of
the growing evidence pointing to links between oral
and whole body health, this separation of
disciplines is slowly beginning to break down. The
notion that dentists (and hygienists) care for only
gums and teeth, while doctors look after everything
else is being rethought.
http://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/pubs/estimates07.htm#9
This author evaluated 328 articles published from 1996 to 2007 which discussed
the results of clinical studies linking oral hygiene to health careassociated
pneumonia or respiratory tract infection in elderly people.
Rosenblum, R. Oral hygiene can reduce the incidence of and death resulting from
pneumonia and respiratory tract infection J Am Dent Assoc 2010;141;1117-1118
Dental Hygiene Treatment
Meticulous and frequent oral care is critical in
preventing these infections.
Oral hygiene intervention significantly reduced
occurrence of pneumonia in institutionalized
subjects Scannapieco, FA, Bush, RB, Paju S. Associations between periodontal disease and risk for
nosocomial bacteria pneumonia and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. A systematic review Ann Periodontal.
2003; 8:1, 54-69.
DeStefano, F, Anda RF, Kahn HS, et al. Detna disease and risk of coronary heart disease and mortality.
BMJ. 1993; 306:688-691
Wu T, Trevisan M, Genco RJ, et al. Periodontal disease and risk of cerebrovascular disease: the first national
Health and nutrition examination survey and its follow-up study. Arch Intern Med. 2000; 160:2749-2755.
Model explaining the Oral inflammation-Systemic
Disease Associations
Inflammatory
Immune
Bacteremia Mediators
Response
IL-1, IL-6, TNF-a
Target Organ
Adapted from Scannapieco FA. Compend Cont Educ Dent. 204;25(7 suppl
1): 16-25
Dental Hygiene Treatment
Educate patients about the importance of maintaining
their oral tissues through home and professional care.
Dental professionals should always take the patients
blood pressure before proceeding with treatment. This
is Standard of Care.
Ask about tobacco use, and incorporate Tobacco
Cessation into the patients treatment plan.
Low birth-weight infants
Enough evidence exists to show there is an
association between the presence of periodontitis
and preterm delivery and low birthweight infants.
However, the exact nature of that association is still
unclear