{"id":965,"date":"2019-06-03T13:10:51","date_gmt":"2019-06-03T13:10:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/?p=965"},"modified":"2019-06-03T13:10:52","modified_gmt":"2019-06-03T13:10:52","slug":"the-link-part-3-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/the-link-part-3-3\/","title":{"rendered":"THE LINK \u2013 PART 3\/3"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

If you missed Part\n1 and\/or 2 of this series, you can find it at www.thetowncommon.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I have been writing\nthe past couple weeks about the growing evidence that links oral and systemic\ndisease, and the need for more collaboration between dentists and physicians.\nAll of this, of course, is in the best interest of the patient.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The discussion\nhas been primarily about gum disease and its relationship with systemic\ndisease. The body is a complex system \u2013 and everything is connected. In\naddition to the need for dentists and MD\u2019s to collaborate more on the\noral\/systemic connection, we also need to collaborate better about our\npatient\u2019s sleep problems.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since I have\ntaken an interest in screening for, and treating some sleep problems, it amazes\nme how many people have issues with their sleep. It amazes me even more when I\nlearn that many of these people have never even had a conversation with their\ndoctor about sleep. However, according to experts in sleep medicine, there is\nroom for expansion of knowledge amongst dentists and many physicians about the various\ntypes of sleep issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Periodontal\nissues and sleep are just two areas where more information should be shared\nbetween dentists and physicians. We have to be open to the fact that everything\nis connected and needs to be taken into consideration when we are trying to\ndiagnose, monitor, or solve our patient\u2019s problems. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, I\nhad a patient in last week who has been a patient of mine for about 7 years. I\nnoticed in the patient\u2019s notes that bruxism\/grinding had been discussed at most\nhygiene appointments in the past, due to the noticeable wear patterns on the\npatient\u2019s teeth. There was also a quote in the notes several times stating that\nthe patient would never wear a dental appliance at night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As I did my\nexam I kept thinking to myself that there must be more to the story behind this\npatient\u2019s dental issues. It happened to be around our lunch break, so I asked\nthe patient if she had a few minutes for us to talk. She seemed interested in\nwhat I had to say. I photographed her teeth to compare them with photos taken 7\nyears ago. We talked for an hour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aside from\nlearning that the patient was on 7 medications for the past SEVEN years and had\nnever reported any of them to us, I also learned that the reason she was also\nresistant to wearing something to protect her teeth at night was because she\nhad sleep issues. She felt there was no way she could handle the extra stuff in\nher mouth. I also learned that both of her parents are treated for sleep apnea.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, here are\nsome bullet highlights from the past 3 weeks:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. Periodontal (gum) disease is bad. Just because\n it doesn\u2019t hurt doesn\u2019t mean you don\u2019t have a problem. If you care about\n your general health, you must take care of your mouth.<\/li>
  2. Delaying care of dental problems always leads\n to more treatment and more cost.<\/li>
  3. Don\u2019t leave information out when discussing\n your health with your doctors. Everything is important.<\/li>
  4. For better patient care, doctors and dentists\n should have more collaboration.<\/li>
  5. Time is the most precious gift a health care\n provider can give their patients. <\/li><\/ol>\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":"

    If you missed Part 1 and\/or 2 of this series, you can find it at www.thetowncommon.com. I have been writing the past couple weeks about the growing evidence that links oral and systemic disease, and the need for more collaboration between dentists and physicians. All of this, of course, is in the best interest of the patient. The discussion has been primarily about gum disease and its relationship with systemic disease. The body is a […]<\/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-965","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/965","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=965"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/965\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":973,"href":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/965\/revisions\/973"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=965"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=965"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=965"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}