Woodland Dental Hygiene

A recent study published in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention, September 2009 compared rates of periodontal disease in 226 people with head and neck cancer and a comparison group of 207 people without cancer. In fact, each millimeter of bone loss due to chronic periodontitis was associated with a more than four times higher risk of head and neck cancer, and this was after taking into account other known risk factors such as smoking.

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Opened in October of 2008, Woodland Dental Hygiene is one of over two hundred independent dental hygiene practices that are now operating in Ontario since legislation passed in September, 2007 allowing Registered Dental Hygienists to open their own practice without a dentist. Increased public access and affordability are the cornerstones of this groundbreaking change to the way dentistry has traditionally practiced.

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The answer is YES! In general, diabetes does make you more susceptible to infection – any infection- and that includes periodontal disease. And there is also evidence that people with diabetes have more periodontal disease.

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For the first time ever scientists have been able to establish a link between bacteria from an expectant mother’s gums to an infection that caused the stillbirth of her full-term infant.

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Interestingly, his figures suggest that having a healthy mouth is almost as important as exercise and nutrition in when it comes to keeping the circulatory system healthy and thereby helping us to offset the effects of aging. Having read “Real Age” almost 10 years ago it helped me develop a new approach to my predominately “Baby Boomer” clients. Instead of abusing them with the “F” word (see if you can guess what that is) I approached them with a “Fountain of Youth” mentality to help motivate them towards improved oral hygiene. And guess what?

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Science now believes that inflammation is a precursor to degenerative disease and therefore if present may be an indicator that we need to pay attention to. As a practicing dental hygienist, I can tell you that in working with clients over the years from both a clinical and homecare perspective, quite often we are not able to get resolution of oral inflammation and this can be due to a known condition that the client has.

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“What happens in the mouth can affect our body and what happens in our body can affect our mouth”

At first glance this seems like a pretty simple and straight-forward statement; however, having worked as an oral health care professional for over 30 years, I can tell you that most of us have not approached our clients with this holistic mind-set. This is now beginning to change as new research confirms that the oral-systemic connection exists and must be considered when assessing and treatment planning.

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The mouth is the gateway to the body. We rely on it daily for nutrition and life support, communication and even expressing our love! Veterinarians rely on the assessment of animal’s mouths to determine their overall health and well-being and Chinese doctors for thousands of years looked in the mouth and more specifically the tongue to diagnose.

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April is Oral Health Month and the week of April 11-17 which just so happens to be this week, is National Dental Hygienists Week. Dental Hygienists are important members of the oral healthcare team and are experts in prevention. Oral health comprises more than just teeth and gum care and is key to your overall health.

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Xylitol was originally discovered in the 1890’s and has been available in Europe since World War ll. It has been approved as safe for human consumption by the FDA, USFDA, WHO and over 50 countries worldwide.

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