Open wide: It’s time to see dentistry as an essential part of holistic health care
Nairn Wilson and Mikako Hayashi say for too long, it has been regarded as the Cinderella of the medical profession and more cooperation is needed among doctors, dentists and health care professionals to enhance people’s lives
As practitioners with combined clinical experience of more than 70 years, we have learned that folk wisdom often stands the test of time. Benjamin Franklin, the scientist-philosopher-politician whose face adorns the US$100 bill, coined the expression, “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”.
Governments facing steeply rising health care bills should remember Franklin’s advice. Recent clinical studies of elderly people indicate that those who have kept their teeth, or even have well-fitting dentures, are more likely to be active longer, whereas the edentulous lose their appetite for life. The importance of dental confidence – the ability to eat, speak and interact with others without pain, discomfort or fear of embarrassment – in old age is vital for a healthy life.
Admiral David Satcher, US surgeon general under president Bill Clinton, wisely noted that: “The mouth is a mirror of the body, it is a sentinel of disease, and it is critical to overall health and well-being.”
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Poor oral health is often a leading indicator of bigger problems. Professor Deborah Greenspan of University of California, San Francisco, discovered lesions in the mouth were an early indicator of HIV/Aids. Osaka University Professor Kazuhiko Nakano and his team have shown that gingival bacteria may cause critical cardiovascular conditions leading to strokes or heart attacks.
There is a wealth of evidence of links between oral health and diabetes and obesity, further proof that oral and general health influence each other. Dental disease is the most prevalent disease in the world, more pervasive than cancer or heart attacks or even backache, costing the global economy more than US$440 billion a year.
Yet dentistry remains the Cinderella of the medical profession. It is high time to regard dentistry as an essential part of holistic health care to extend longevity and enhance quality of life.
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