Posts Tagged ‘poor oral health’
Cognitive function & oral healthcare
Two new scientific developments are important to the future of oral healthcare, and in particular independent hygiene. First, an early stage clinical study suggests that blocking a byproduct from one oral bacteria, P. gingivalis, can improve memory function. Refer to the following chart. Second, other studies show that P. gingivalis is but one bacteria in…
Read MoreTo improve health disparities, focus on oral health
That’s the recommendation on a new blog from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. How so? well, here’s an argument.
Let’s begin by recognizing chronic diseases such as diabetes and COPD have a much higher prevalence in poorer communities than rich ones. For example, about 4 in 100 adults in Rosedale (high income) in Toronto have diabetes, whereas, 3 kilometers away in St. Jamestown (low income), 12 in 100 are diabetic.
Healthcare 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.
Read MoreTargeting preventive services
The Cochrane Library recently updated its evaluation about the merits of a hygienist cleaning above and below the gum line. Its conclusion: target these procedures for those at very high risk of poor oral health because there is little evidence of clinical merit or cost-effectiveness for these hygiene procedures for adults at little or no risk.
While this makes sense, the reality is our dental insurance schemes in Canada do not recognize risk in their reimbursement for oral health services. Someone who is low risk has the same entitlements as those at high risk. Your gums are healthy — you get 10 units of scaling each year. Your gums are bleeding and inflamed — you get the same.
Read MoreThe physician and oral health
“If balance is symbiosis then the loss of balance is dysbiosis… you can call it disease. Asthma, obesity, rheumatoid arthritis, colitis, even depression and autism, can be understood in terms more familiar to ecologists than doctors.”
This is an excerpt from a recent opiotn letter published in the British Medical Journal, January 14, 2019. It was written by a physician who understands that the vast populations of microbes in the human body play a vital role in the onset and management of chronic diseases.
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