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Latest News About Periodontal Disease

April 8th, 2009 · 1 Comment

checkupThis week, a few perio-related stories have hit the dental industry newsboards. First of all, Resolvins may restore soft tissues and reduce/eliminate periodontal swelling and disease. Wow. In addition, we have more news on the link between oral and overall health. No big shock. Then there’s a new study about gum disease contributing to gestational diabetes. Did we already know this? What a week – and it’s only Wednesday. See the full stories and links to resources here:

Resolvins Resolve Periodontal Disease?
Boston scientists announced the discovery of Resolvins, which are a “new family of biologically active products of omega-3 fatty acids,” and how these little critters could hold the key to eliminating periodontal disease.

Oral Health’s Growing Link to Overall Health
Here’s a statistic from the article at MedicalNewsToday: “In this age of tight resources for care, it was calculated that the treatment of over 1600 pregnant women with all levels of severity of periodontal disease could save nearly USD$14,000,000 (14 million).”

Gum Disease and Gestational Diabetes
During pregnancy, women who do not smoke or consume alcohol but have periodontal disease are more likely to develop gestational diabetes, accordint to a new study by NYU researchers.

Three things your dental team can do NOW to help patients understand and prevent gum disease:

  • Direct your patients, front office team, and assistants to www.Perio.org for more informaiton about gum disease and what the public needs to know.
  • Have your hygienist(s) blog about gum disease prevention on your website. (For more info on this, call TNT Dental.)
  • Provide easy access to education: brochures in your lobby and treatment rooms; posters with statistics in the bathroom; a gum disease section on your website; patient educaiton videos in the lobbt; a take-home list of tips for each patient’s hygiene visit – with special lists for kiddos and pregnant women.

Tags: Clinical

1 response so far ↓

  • 1 Gary Grimm // Apr 10, 2009 at 5:48 pm

    The more we research periodontal disease, the more we realize our body is a single system and not a collection of systems that don’t interact.

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