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Dentists key in health of a nation

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A new study underlines the fact that the dental team are key players in keeping an eye on the health of the nation.

Nearly 20 million Americans annually visit a dentist but not a general healthcare provider, according to this study.

The study, conducted by a nursing-dental research team at NYU, is the first of its kind to determine the proportion of Americans who are seen annually by a dentist but not by a general healthcare provider.

This finding suggests dentists can play a crucial role as healthcare practitioners in the frontline defence of identifying systemic disease which would otherwise go undetected in a significant portion of the population, say the researchers.

Dr. Shiela Strauss, an associate professor of nursing at the NYU College of Nursing and co-director of the statistics and data management core for NYU's Colleges of Nursing and Dentistry, said: 'For these and other individuals, dental professionals are in a key position to assess and detect oral signs and symptoms of systemic health disorders that may otherwise go unnoticed, and to refer patients for follow-up care.'

During the course of a routine dental examination, dentists and dental hygienists, as trained healthcare providers, can take a patient's health history, check blood pressure, and use direct clinical observation and X-rays to detect risk for systemic conditions, such as diabetes, hypertension, and heart disease.

The NYU research team examined the most recent available data, which came from a nationally representative subsample of 31,262 adults and children who participated in the Department of Health & Human Services 2008  annual National Health Interview Survey, a health status study of the U.S. population, which at that time consisted of 304,375,942 individuals. Physicians, nurses, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants were among those categorized as general health care providers for the purposes of the survey.

When extrapolated to the US population, 26% of children did not see a general health care provider. Yet over one-third of this group, representing nearly seven million children, did visit a dentist at least once during that year, according to survey results.

Among the adults, one quarter did not visit a general healthcare provider, yet almost a quarter did have at least one dental visit. When combined, adults and children who had contact only with dentists represent nearly 20 million people.

SOURCE: American Journal of Public Health, published online December 15, 2011

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Yawn. Have been picking up diabetes and anaemia for nearly thirty years; deteriorating perio, simple finger prick and a random serum glucose of twenty-five.A nice little diagnosis and job well done. BUT it is all pointless in this over-regulated, box-ticking nightmare that has been forced upon us. Patients are the least important component in this appalling top-heavy micro-managed mess. Think of schools; kids are measured, weighed, tested, regulated, assessed and processed. They still can't read or write when they leave school, but at least all the paperwork is complete. Kids "at risk" are measured and documented to the point where the case notes would fill a football stadium, the fact that they were actually murdered along the way is a blip in the system, and even more paperwork will be thrown at it in future.
The PCTs, SHAs and other acronyms of State control couldn't care a **** about living, sentient people. They are "UDAs", we are "Performers" or "Providers" and the average clipboard-wielding clown who looks at our practices is far more concerned about massively detailed reports on how often the autoclave has been cycled, or what colour pen is used to tick the millions of boxes.Why should any sensible practitioner care at all about further hassle, all that matters is filling in the forms and surviving the day. So the patient might have a systemic condition. Go and bother the GP, I am tired, demoralised and can't be bothered as I press the computer key that meanlessly adds a couple of pages of standard drivel to the notes.

Posted by rob_bate 26/12/11 at 15:32

I sympathise as I've been doing it the same length of time,but some you can change ,some not. Ditch the nhs but at your stage at least the pension is good. I don't know how anyone can ethically make money on it. Still as we approach a new year it's interesting to speculate on where dentistry is going.
The continued over regulation is not going to change. The govt wants to deal with a few players,not thousands of whinging individuals,so regional "privatised" nhs corporates are likely to increase. Bigger contracts with fewer nhs players.
The ombudsman is going to have a field day with the "gaming/conning" when it reports so expect some increased regulation/ supervisory body with investigative powers. It could even be the gdc now that it's joining with legal firms.
The profession will become more fragmented with various groups encroaching on traditional dental work. This will in all likelihood diminish the standing of dentistry in the eyes of the public.
That said dentistry in most other European countries is still held in esteem so I have hope and optimism that it is not all doom and gloom. Might be tougher financially next year but these things are cyclical so it'll come back.

Posted by gordie 27/12/11 at 15:05