Industry Info

Oral Health Associated with Stroke, Pneumonia Risk

This issue offers two continuing education (CE) articles that focus on the oral/overall health link: “Reducing Stroke Risk” and “The OralMicrobiome and the Risk of Lung Infection“. The features—based on the Philips Educational Symposia “Oral Health and the Connected Body,” held last year—are introduced by Philips’ senior manager of professional relations, Gail B. Stoops, RDH, BSDH. Three additional Philips Oral Healthcare-sponsored CE courses will be published in an upcoming issue of Dimensions of Dental Hygiene.

The connection between periodontal status and stroke is examined in “Reducing Stroke Risk.” Lauren Dennis, MHA, BS, and Souvik Sen, MD, MPH, explore the signs and symptoms of stroke, strategies for prevention, and stroke’s association with periodontal diseases. As the oral cavity is connected to the trachea and lower airway, bacteria can travel through this pathway, raising the risk of lung infection. The CE course “The Oral Microbiome and the Risk of Lung Infection” by Frank A. Scannapieco, DMD, PhD, discusses this process and what it means for oral health professionals. Each article offers two CE units.

Preventing Bone Loss After Tooth Extraction

Oral health professionals extract an estimated 20 million teeth annually in the United States for a variety of reasons, such as caries, periodontal diseases, root fractures, trauma, and orthodontic treatment. Tooth loss greatly increases the risk of bone loss, which can have devastating consequences on oral and systemic health. Clinicians can help patients preserve bone after tooth extraction through a variety of strategies, which are discussed in this issue’s Sunstar Spotlight, “Preventing Bone Loss“. Written by Sebastiano Andreana, DDS, MS, director of implant dentistry and an associate professor in the Department of Restorative Dentistry at the School of Dental Medicine at the University at Buffalo in New York, and sponsored by Sunstar Americas Inc, this article educates clinicians on the latest in bone preservation and how they can support these efforts.

From Dimensions of Dental Hygiene. April 2015;13(4):14.