Dear Readers,
We continue publishing our mini-article interviews with Dr. Val Daniyar, DMD of Naples Implant and Laser Dental Center. These interviews shed some light on contemporary developments taking place in the field of Dentistry and how it matters to all of us. Given a great response these articles generate we would like to encourage you to contact Dr. Val Daniyar with all your questions. 239-261-8200
– Dr.Daniyar, good to see you again!!!
– Likewise! It seems the subjects we talk about during our discussions are quite interesting to our readers and it makes me feel real good since I also get an opportunity to share many wonderful news with such a great audience, plus a lot of people seem to want to know even more, as far as I can tell by the amount of questions I receive via my web site. I would like to take an opportunity to thank all of the Readers for the questions submitted. Also my apologies to those who had written to me for sometime unintentional delays with my replies to their questions for I am trying my best to pace up writing the answers to all the inquiries.
– Splendid!! What are we going to talk about today?
– Based on most frequent topic, about which I get asked I would like to further elaborate on the subjects that we briefly touched in our previous discussions, but what seems to appear in many questions I receive. That is the connection between one’s overall health and the health of the mouth.
Oral cavity is a very unique combination of various organs and tissues, unique in a way that nowhere else in our body we see something like this: crossing of multiple vital functions such as beginning of food digestion, breathing, speech and voice formation, let alone appearance of our face. All these functions require precise balance to work properly and in synchronicity. Now, we know that this balance can be undone by many disorders that may affect our body in general, most common example would probably be dry mouth that is symptomatic of plethora of different health problems. Or severe gum disease that is seen in patients with high blood sugar, also known as diabetes. But it also goes both ways, that is local problems in oral cavity may give rise to more severe problem with sometimes gloomy consequences. And that’s what I would like to dedicate our today’s topic.
– This is indeed a very important subject. My father has been struggling with high blood sugar for many years now and I know that he has been suffering from significant gum problems and dry mouth as well!
– We have known for many years now that inflammation from gums that are swollen can increase the severity of diabetes, increase likelihood of various forms of oral cancer and precancerous conditions, and also make heart and vascular disease worse. However, a recent survey undertaken by Warwick Medical School and published in British Dental Journal indicated that majority of diabetic patients visiting the clinic where the survey was conducted, were unaware of any connection between their dental health and their condition. Researchers from Warwick concluded “Dental and oral self-care tasks were rated as less important than other diabetes self-care tasks, such as taking prescribed medication or having regular eye checks. Around one-third of patients rated daily flossing as the least important health related activity.”
Luckily, in the US the situation is a bit better mostly due to a large effort in public health education provided by medical professionals and multiple health awareness groups. I would also add that Americans are traditionally more attentive to their oral health. Many are taking necessary steps to avoid potential complications. But yet we are quite far from where we would like to be on many health awareness issues.
As seen in Naples Daily News
