Prevora
Poor oral health & chronic kidney disease
Judging from American data, about 25% of Canadian healthcare spending for seniors is to manage chronic kidney disease. It is perhaps the top burden on our hospitals. Moreover, the pandemic is making it worse. Between 20% and 40% of COVID-19 patients in the ICU sustain kidney damage. Many patients on dialysis only start this treatment…
Read MoreStroke & oral health
Since 2016, we have known that a type of oral bacteria, Streptococcus mutans, is directly linked to cerebral micro-bleeds, a precursor to a stroke.
Read MoreHenry the Dentist
We’ve all heard about the social service’s dental bus traveling to shopping centres and community centres offering affordable dentistry to those with dental pain or those who can’t afford the dentist. Hamilton, Ontario as one. And there are others.
Read MoreOral inflammatory load and dementia care
A new article on managing dementia suggests there is a pyramid of needs for this progressive disease (see the chart).
Read MoreUnmet needs
Two stories recently crossed my desk to underscore the need for Prevora.
The first story in the Washington Post was about children and adults with Special Needs having limited access to effective preventive oral health services,
Read MoreFailure to keep up with the times
A family relative recently sent me an email about her dental plan and its failure to keep up with the times. read below:
Read MoreOral dysbiosis and COPD
Julie DiNardo, RDH (Hamilton, ON) reports a patient with long-term respiratory disease has recently improved lung function. the patient’s respirologist and the patient are unsure why the improvement. So the patient asked Julie if it has anything to do with Prevora, an antiseptic which she has been receiving in Julie’s practice for the past 5 years.
Read MoreRethinking geriatric oral healthcare
Hygienists often tell me their “horror stories” in serving older patients in retirement residences and nursing homes. These stories cover the waterfront – rampant decay among those with dementia, can’t get past the front door, gross inflammation in the mouth, preoccupation by the nursing team and unwillingness by the family to pay for better oral health until it is too late.
Read MoreReducing medical costs
In this new age of containing medical costs, it seems the ultimate argument and purpose for oral health services is better overall health. For example, note this excerpt form a recent blog in Health Affairs, an influential journal in organizing the healthcare system: “Periodontal disease treatment can reduce medical costs in patients with diabetes, coronary artery disease, and cerebral vascular disease. Gum disease is strongly linked to poor cognitive brain function among patients with Alzheimer’s disease. The risk of developing dementia has been found to be higher in those with periodontitis than those without it.”
Read MoreHealthcare savings via prevention of chronic disease
A new study which examines why American spending on healthcare has shown little growth over the past few years, reports that a key reason is healthier hearts among Seniors.
Between 1999 and 2012, American per capita spending on cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases (heart attack, cardiac arrest, stroke, etc.) declined by $827 per person. Spending on a related category called cardiovascular risk factors (high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes) also fell $802 per person below the trend line.
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