{"id":859,"date":"2018-12-17T15:03:41","date_gmt":"2018-12-17T15:03:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/?p=859"},"modified":"2018-12-17T15:03:42","modified_gmt":"2018-12-17T15:03:42","slug":"outside-the-box","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/outside-the-box\/","title":{"rendered":"OUTSIDE THE BOX"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Dentistry is one of those things in life\u2026.as with most things\u2026. that people view in different ways. Some are interested in their appearance, some are interested in their health, some both,and others none of the above. A major role of health care providers is to make patients aware of the possibilities to improve their quality of life. When our services are perceived as a commodity, expectations are often not achieved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dentists play a key role in screening\npatients for many disorders relative to nutrition and in providing appropriate\nreferrals into the health care system. Although the importance of integrating\ndiet and nutrition guidance into dental care has been advocated for decades by\neducators, it continues to be ignored except by a handful of\nprevention-oriented practitioners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many of the world\u2019s most significant\nhealth problems are linked to poor dietary practices, including over-nutrition\nand under-nutrition. Nutrition plays a fundamental role in health, and dental\nprofessionals have the opportunity to be a critical link between discovery and\nwellness. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is a great deal of evidence\nlinking oral infections, including periodontal disease, nutrition and\nimmunological response. We have clear evidence linking oral disease with\nadverse pregnancy outcomes, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and stroke. In\naddition, obesity, which is an epidemic facing our country, is significantly\naffecting the incidence of diabetes, cardiovascular disease and overall\nlifespan. We know there are direct connections between these problems and oral\ndisease. What is the role of the dentist? Should the dentist just be a tooth\nfixer? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the body of data linking systemic\nhealth conditions and oral infection grows, this expanded understanding will\nresult in more profound discoveries. However, we know right know that the\nscientific bridge between oral disease and systemic health is often mediated by\ndiet and nutrition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The beneficiary of this profound\nevidence should be you, the dental patient. It should not only be the\nresponsibility of the physician or specialized nutritionist to incorporate this\ninformation into practice; the dentist should be playing a key role. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the most part, the dentist is the\nonly one who examines the mouth. It used to be that the dentist only looked at\nthe teeth and only fixed problems if they arose. Most dentists screen for\nperiodontal, or gum, problems as well as oral cancer. The trend is to address\nthese problems earlier than ever before. Identifying developmental issues\nrelated to facial growth during childhood, for example, is much more than\nprescribing orthodontics. Lives can be changed with early intervention. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

People tend to have ingrained in their\nhead that the dentist just looks at the teeth and treatment should be the same\nas 25 years ago. The fact of the matter is, things change and there are no two\ndentists who practice identically. Each individual\u2019s philosophy of care comes\nfrom personal experience, review of literature and the type and amount of\ncontinuing education taken. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

One thing we all hope is that our health\ncare provider, dentist or physician, has our best interest in mind. There is\nroom for improvement in the communication between all health care providers. As\nscience continues and evidence grows, it is the responsibility of all health\ncare providers to work towards a more integrated health care system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. St. Clair\nmaintains a private dental practice in Rowley and Newburyport dedicated to\nhealth-centered family dentistry. If there are certain topics you would like to\nsee written about or questions you have please email them to him at jpstclair@stclairdmd.com<\/a>.\nYou can view all previously written columns at www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dentistry is one of those things in life\u2026.as with most things\u2026. that people view in different ways. Some are interested in their appearance, some are interested in their health, some both,and others none of the above. A major role of health care providers is to make patients aware of the possibilities to improve their quality of life. When our services are perceived as a commodity, expectations are often not achieved. Dentists play a key role […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-859","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/859","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=859"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/859\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":865,"href":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/859\/revisions\/865"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=859"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=859"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=859"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}