You may well have read in the news recently about the emerging links between oral health and your general health and well being. There is more and more research being done about how brushing and flossing could not just save your teeth, but also potentially your life.
We are proud to work here at the Exeter Dental Centre with Devon’s only Specialist Periodontist, Dr Hilary Cooke. She works, along with our hygienists to treat patients with gum disease – which has links to heart disease, diabetes and can increase the risk of strokes.
In May Hilary and our hygienist Jan Mitchell attended the international conference EuroPerio 8. The EuroPerio Congress has established itself as the world’s leading conference in periodontology and implant dentistry, and has become the essential triennial fixture on the meetings calendar.
Here Hilary talks about the event; “I thought it was absolutely superb. It was very humbling being at the congress with so many world experts! People I have looked up to all my life and to whom I am greatly in awe. People whose text books and research articles I have studied and learnt from Even they do not have the answers to the many questions that periodontal diseases present us with.
“There were delegates from all over the world and I met with colleagues from South Africa, USA and Australia. All world leaders in periodontal and implant treatment and research. An astronomically high percentage of patients in this country suffer from undiagnosed diabetes and a dentist or hygienist may be the first person to detect this. As well as the requirement to see a dentist regularly for oral health – it is becoming important for other aspects of a patient’s health too.
“It is an indisputable fact that gum disease and diabetes have a bidirectional interaction, similarly there is strong evidence to link gum disease and cardiovascular diseases and other chronic inflammatory diseases.”