Recent Research and News on Dental Health

Link Between Oral Health & Diabetes

Overview:

Our patient population generally is at higher risk for development of oral diseases including dental decay and gum disease; both of which can lead to loss of teeth as well as the development of pain. There is also groundswell of evidence showing that poor oral health will have a negative effect on overall health. For instance, it is now recognized that various forms of gum disease can make treatment of diabities more difficult. Interestingly, the presence of diabities, if poorly controlled, also seems to interfere with treatment of gum diseases. Now there is growing evidence that people who have gum disease might even have a higher risk for the development of heart disease, although a cause and effect relationship has yet to be established.

With these considerations in mind, we thought that our patients and our referring doctors would be interested in the recent news article for which we have provided this link:

Poor oral health may increase increase risk of diabetes study warns (click on the the title to view the article)

Reference: by Jaleesa Baulkman for dailymail.com

Our Model for Periodontal and Peri-Implant Disease Progression

Overview:

Development of a model for how periodontal and peri-implant diseases might progress.  We believe that there are bacterial triggers, but that after this, host responses and other factors, possibly even including migration of titanium ions or particles into tissues surrounding implants.  We are hypothesizing that these particles could contribute to ongoing inflammation, even if bacterial infection is controlled.  This could explain why management of peri-implant diseases is more difficult than management of periodontal conditions (about teeth).

With these considerations in mind, we thought that our patients and our referring doctors would be interested in the chart for which we have provided this link:

Our Model for Periodontal and Peri-Implant Disease Progression (click on the title to view the chart)

Reference: by Mount Sinai Dentistry

Relationship Between Periodontal Interventions & Healthcare Costs & Utilization

Overview:

There is an increasing amount of evidence suggesting that poor oral health might be a risk factor or indicator for development of other non-oral problems ranging from diabetes to cardiovascular disease. However we don’t understand the biological reasons for this in full. However, in this study, it is shown quite clearly that even if we do not quite understand how oral and general health are linked, there are still important benefits related to the delivery of oral healthcare!  This article shows how the addition of dental healthcare dramatically reduces the costs for treatment required for other diseases such as diabetes. The findings also show that complications from these conditions that would otherwise require hospitalizations are reduced when dental care is also provided. So regardless of how these are linked, we know that when oral health is maintained, there are important improvements in other conditions with marked reductions in overall healthcare costs as well as a reduction in hospitalization.

With these considerations in mind, we thought that our patients and our referring doctors would be interested in the publication for which we have provided this link:

The Relationship Between Periodontal Interventions and Healthcare Costs and Utilization. Evidence from an Integrated Dental, Medical, and Pharmacy Commerical Claims Database (click on the title to view the publication)

Reference: by Kamyar Nasseh, Marko Vujicic, and Michael Glick