Can Dentists Predict Heart Disease?

When your dentist peers into your wide open mouth

, the last thing you imagine he will see is your heart. Well that"s true, he may not exactly be looking into your heart, but dentists are often able to identify risks of potentially life threatening heart diseases and refer the patients for further evaluation. The life saving role of dentists came to light in a study published by the American Dental Association. 200 dental patients were studied and a computerized system calculated the risk of patients dying from a cardiovascular disease within the next ten years.

The system used parameters such as age, sex, cholesterol, blood pressure and whether the patient was smoking or non smoking to arrive at the rate of risk. Those patients who scored 10% or higher in the risk category had a 10% higher chance of dying from a heart attack or stroke within the next ten years. They were further referred to cardiac physicians for more studies.

Out of all the patients who were considered for the study, the men had a higher risk rate for heart disease related death. For women, the rate of risk was just 5% or even lesser.

The findings conclusively indicate that dentists can perform a certain amount of risk assessment as to whether a patient is likely to develop cardio vascular disease. Scientists have always known that there is a very clear link between oral and other diseases. This study reinforces the same. Dentists can therefore act as the front line risk assessors for heart diseases purely on the basis of the oral health of their patients. There are many systemic diseases that manifest themselves orally and cardiovascular disease is apparently one of them.

Dentists detect oral abnormalities that are precipitated by other disease much before even the patient feels any symptoms. These early warning signs are quite helpful in preventing more chronic conditions from developing. Most of the people also visit the dentists more often than they do other physicians. Dentists can play an effective role in screening patients for risk factors indicating other systemic diseases.

If dentists get involved in screening for cardiovascular disease, it would be of immense benefit to doctors, cardiac hospitals and the society at large. It would be a very effective and workable strategy in identifying populations that are at risk for developing chronic diseases. They can be prevented before the disease shows up. It is critical that a preventive approach is taken to conquer serious complications such as cardiovascular diseases rather than treat after the patient develops complications.

So dropping in at your local dentist on a regular basis will not only guarantee oral health, but it could also be a ticket to longer life.

by: Alex White

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