The Risks Sugary Drinks Pose to Women

Posted on January 3, 2012

We hear much about the risk of sugary drinks in relation to good oral health but now a new study has found that women who drink two or more sugary drinks per day may be at higher risk of heart disease and diabetes. The study from the Northwestern University’s Department of Preventive Medicine in Chicago was presented at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Session (2011) in Orlando, Florida.

The study compared middle-aged and older women who drank two or more sugar sweetened drinks per day to those who drank one or less. They found that those drinking two or more drinks were significantly more likely to develop a bigger waist measurement and have impaired fasting levels of glucose. They were also nearly four times more likely to develop high triglycerides, a type of blood fat linked to increased heart disease.
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Patient Satisfaction – The Next Big Thing

Posted on December 19, 2011

As part of the reforms sweeping into American healthcare, a notable feature is how important patient satisfaction is becoming. Starting in October 2012, Medicare will start using patient satisfaction scores to determine part of the reimbursements for American hospitals.

Hence, American medicine has begun to focus on how it will improve patient satisfaction, and new terms such as “patient-centred” care are emerging. That is because if a patient feels betrayed or not listened to or just plain unhappy with his/her care, he/she can lower the amount of reimbursement money coming back to a hospital regardless of her outcome.

Welcome to the new healthcare consumer!
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The Challacombe Scale of Clinical Oral Dryness

Posted on December 16, 2011

The recently launched Challacombe Scale was developed from research conducted at King’s College London Dental Institute under the supervision of Professor Stephen Challacombe. The scale is designed to monitor the severity of dry mouth or xerostomia and has been well received by dental professionals and reported widely in the dental press.

The scale helps to identify patients with dry mouth, raises awareness of the condition and reinforces the role that the dental team plays in helping those patients. A recent article about the Challacombe
Scale emphasised the role that dental hygienists and therapists play in identifying, monitoring and managing these patients as often patients with dry mouth may be visiting the hygienist or therapist to address the related conditions of dental caries and periodontal disease. Patients with xerostomia are more susceptible to many oral conditions and diseases and hygienists and therapists are able to offer advice and treat the management of dental caries, gingival and periodontal disease.
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Listening

Posted on December 12, 2011

“It typically takes patients only a minute to describe their concerns, but they often are interrupted within 15 seconds of beginning to express them.”

This was one observation in a new report on patient-centred care from the US Institute of Medicine called Patients Charting the Course.1
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Fluoride varnish in preventing adult caries?

Posted on December 8, 2011

Fluoride varnish is the acknowledged standard of preventive care in children. A recent controlled study, however, found no treatment effect over 3 years in children ages 7 and 8 at baseline.1

Controlled studies of a slowly progressive and episodic disease like caries, are difficult to design and implement. Patient selection and dosing regimens are critical to proving efficacy. In Prevora’s case, for example, a significant treatment effect in young adolescents was found amongst the female participants and not the males. Why might there be a gender treatment effect in this population? The males consumed significantly more sugar and more acidic drinks than the girls; this aggressive diet prevented both Prevora and fluoride varnish from working. But for those girls who followed the Prevora protocol, there were significantly fewer cavities than in the fluoride varnish group.
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New models of delivering health care – what holds for the family dental practice?

Posted on December 5, 2011

Recently, two items illustrating the significance of health care reform have caught my attention:

  1. Walmart, the major discount retailer in the US and its largest employer, has said it aims to become America’s biggest provider of health care services, offering basic prevention to management of chronic conditions like diabetes and heart disease.1 Walmart’s objective is to “dramatically lower the cost of care”; one proposed way is to oversee patients with complicated chronic conditions, including asthma, HIV, arthritis, depression and sleep apnea. No specific mention was made of dental care, even though spending on dental diseases can surpass that for most other diseases.
  2. The dental therapist movement in Alaska was featured on PBS’s news program called “improving dental access.” Dental therapists are paraprofessionals who can administer simple dental procedures including fillings; their scope of practice is larger than the hygienist. PBS reports that other states are supporting dental therapy training programs to improve access to dental care.

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What do your patients know about their oral health? (or is that, what do they want to know?)

Posted on December 1, 2011

A recent report from the U.S. Institute of Medicine said that nearly half of Americans lack health literacy – they simply can’t obtain nor process and retain information about their own health. I find this surprising. Our research conducted on patients’ awareness of preventive dental care found that more than half knew the bacterial origins of tooth decay, and also knew that good oral health was linked to good overall health.

Yet, our surveys also find that this knowledge was garnered primarily by the patient through his/her own research, rather than from their dental professional. Indeed, one overriding comment by survey participants is that there is very little interface between the dental professionals and the adult patients to improve health literacy – to speak with the patient about his/her risks for more dental disease and what might be done to mitigate these risks.
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Your patients’ ability to pay – young vs old

Posted on November 28, 2011

It has always been the case the older patients are generally more able to pay for their dental services than younger ones. A good thing too. As shown in the 2009 Adult Oral Health Survey in the UK, the prevalence of dental caries grows with age.
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The Brand

Posted on November 24, 2011

Recently, three surveys came across my desk which pertain to the “brand” or common meaning and perception of dental care.

First, a recent survey by 10,000 British adults by Simplyhealth found that “41% would rather have dinner with their in-laws or clean the toilet than go to the dentist”.

Second, the 2009 Adult Dental Health Survey in the UK found that 1 in 3 adults sitting in the dental office waiting room were either anxious or very anxious.
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The Conversation

Posted on November 21, 2011

In all the surveys of adult dental patients we have conducted over the past few years, one of the most significant findings is how knowledgeable patients are about the connection between good oral health and good overall health – and, how interested they are in learning more.

Many adult patients seek the conversation about what good teeth might mean for good health. How does the dental professional handle this interest?
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