Focus on Comprehensive Diagnosis and Treatment
With an increasing body of knowledge linking oral and overall health, dental professionals have important roles to play in advancing their patients’ health.
This is the final series of continuing education (CE) courses based on the programming provided at the 1-day symposium entitled “Oral Health and the Connected Body” hosted by Philips in 2014. While the topics of the three CE articles in this issue vary—from gender-specific medicine to diabetes to high-fructose corn syrup and caries—they are all subjects that require continued research to support comprehensive clinical diagnosis and treatment proficiency.
The literature review by Maria Perno Goldie, RDH, BA, MS, illustrates the distinctions between men’s and women’s health, including the speed of drug metabolism and dopamine levels related to prescription pharmaceuticals, which are important to clinical treatment in the dental setting.
Diabetes mellitus is a common chronic metabolic disease that remains incurable but can be prevented. Evanthia Lalla, DDS, MS, provides keen insights into how periodontal diseases and diabetes affect oral and overall health in a bidirectional symbiosis.
Brian Nový, DDS, FADI, and Betsy Reynolds, RDH, MS, discuss the impact of sucrose and fructose on the development of caries, obesity, and obesity-related conditions such as heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, and certain types of cancer. Evidence indicates that Americans are consuming sugar and other sweeteners in quantities that are overwhelming their metabolic systems—contributing to both oral and overall health challenges.
By virtue of live symposia and CE courses such as these, Philips Oral Healthcare strongly supports clinicians in their efforts to provide the highest quality of care to their patients. The company recognizes the importance of dedicated oral health routines to reduce the risks associated with systemic and oral diseases, and has developed innovative technology (eg, Philips Sonicare and AirFloss) that is clinically proven to markedly improve users’ oral health.
It is through dental professionals—specifically dental hygienists—that preventive treatment options are best understood by patients. Dental hygienists’ clinical care is increasingly important to patients’ oral and overall health, and their ability to connect with patients on a deeper, more sustainable level is nothing short of remarkable. But it is dental hygienists’ impactful influence on patients’ capacity to change behaviors combined with a robust and uncompromising dedication to high-quality patient education that sets them apart. On behalf of Philips, thank you, dental hygienists, for enthusiastically contributing to the advancement of oral and overall health in the patients you serve.
Philips also extends thanks to Dimensions of Dental Hygiene for its publishing excellence on all seven Philips symposia courses offered between February and June of this year. All dental professionals are invited to continue their individual paths of discovery on oral and overall health by joining Philips at its second Oral Health and the Connected Body Symposium in Cleveland on October 2, 2015. For more information, please contact me at: gail.bemis-stoops@philips.com.
From Dimensions of Dental Hygiene. June 2015;13(6):49.
