In our never-ending quest to singularly promote socially-centric neighborhood dentistry, combined with our shared battle in shrinking our collective expanding waistlines, we hope to bring some attention to this latest round of dental health information purged on the public.
You may only think dentists can be interested in this type of stuff, and you’re right.
Who really cares how quickly science advances, what enzymes help us understand this or that, how the quality of health care improves, or how we can save money? 
Even if we do care about all those things, who has the time to have an actual conversation about it – or even just forward a link, right?
With the next viral puppy video burning a hole in our inbox, and a flurry of text messages to return, it’s no wonder optimal oral health really takes a backseat in our everyday lives.
If weight loss can be considered a popular topic of conversation these days, we can now add gum disease to the list of benefits involved with a reduction in body mass and associated waistline circumference.
Case Western Reserve University School of Dental Medicine researchers found the human body is better at fighting gum disease when fat cells, which trigger inflammation, disappear.
Now this doesn’t mean if we go out and dive into the next fad diet, that we no longer need to see the dentist as often.
This is only preliminary research and a mountain more needs to be done but at the very least it is another sign of the oral systemic connection.
A new paradigm between dentistry and medicine is now developing regarding patient care. As the oral systemic connection is more clearly understood, dentists who are trained in diagnosing oral and periodontal disease will play a greater role in the overall health of their patients.
Many times, the first signs of unnatural systemic health conditions reveal themselves in changes within the oral cavity.
The health of our teeth and gums directly correlates to our overall physical health, and vice-versa. At least that’s how we read all that dental clinicalspeak.
What this means to us, as dental patients is this; the better our dentists understand the connection between oral health and physical health, the better they can communicate this information to the rest of us – but we do have to go see them on the regular…and make sure we befriend them on Facebook, follow them on Twitter, and bookmark their blog posts!
A down economy should never be a reason to forgo optimal oral health; it will actually cost us more money to delay even just regular dental cleanings and exams.
This neglect leads to the development of oral health, tooth, and gum problems which then require more attention (read: time and money) from our trusted dentists, when the spit finally does hit the sink.
We don’t need to wait for the government to debate our health care, or break the bank on regular dental care.
There other easy to pay dentistry options, and alternatives to dental insurance.
And don’t be afraid to get your primary care physician involved in the conversation.
Tell us you wouldn’t Like that doctor’s Facebook page AND share the link?
