Periodontal disease and systemic health – a summary

With more and more concrete evidence emerging, it is hoped that scientists will one day clarify the mouth-body connection. However, in the meantime, adding value to a patient’s visit continues to be an essential part of everyday dental practice and this includes optimising their overall health and wellbeing. The GDC’s Standards for the dental team maintains that all aspects of patients’ health and wellbeing should be considered and there is an expectation upon you to inform and advise patients about any behavioural risks.

Dental nurses are at the frontline of oral health care and regular dental examinations offers teams both the time and opportunity to detect early predictors of systemic disease as well as dental disease. In fact, they are perfectly placed to address the lifestyle choices patients make and discuss any that might be detrimental to the health of their mouths and the rest of their bodies, too. An oral examination reveals a lot more than just the health of the oral cavity. Equally, recording a patient’s medical history at every visit can often highlight these lifestyle risks so that teams may review habits with patients in order to address them.