There are strong links between oral health and systemic health, and patients with periodontal disease are at increased risk for several other conditions.
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“I think a lot of doctors can just have a patient open their mouth, and what they see often reflects what’s going on in a patient’s whole body,” he explains. Sasha Ross, DMDperiodontist at the Cleveland Clinic. “There’s a very strong relationship with periodontal disease and diabetes, cardiovascular disease, Alzheimer’s disease, rheumatoid arthritis, low birth weight, babies, the list goes on and on.”
In a recent episode of Cleveland Clinic’s Innovations for the head and neck podcastDr. Ross shares information about periodontal disease, treatments and the role of periodontists, including:
- The various treatments provided by periodontists
- The relationship between oral health and overall health
- How periodontists diagnose and treat patients
- Research and developments on the horizon, including potential regenerative medicine opportunities
Click the podcast player above to listen to the episode now or read on for a short edited excerpt. See more Innovations for the head and neck episodes in clevelandclinic.org/podcasts/head-and-neck-innovations or wherever you take your podcasts.
Excerpt from the podcast
Podcast host Paul Bryson, MD, MBA: In otolaryngology, we have a number of subspecialties in dentistry. There are a lot of subspecialties, and I think sometimes as a layperson or an untrained person in this field, sometimes it’s hard to approach. Just describe periodontics — our listeners may be otolaryngologists or other healthcare professionals, but what are some of the fundamental things you can expect in periodontics?
Dr. Ross: Periodontology focuses on the diagnosis and treatment of periodontal disease, which is a bacterial infection in the gum tissue that causes inflammation of the gums and eventually causes you to lose bone around your teeth, which is the foundation of your teeth’s support. Actually, a third of what I do is treating periodontal disease, both non-surgically and surgically. We try to save teeth and grow bone around the teeth when possible. One third of what I do is treat gum recession through gum grafting and many very minimally invasive techniques.
Then this last third does extractions and dental implants and bone growth in preparation for the dental implants. Implants came out about 30 to 40 years ago and now, unfortunately, we are starting to see some issues surrounding implants.
Periodontists are the main dentists who try to save dental implants and make them healthy if they have different problems. I guess lastly, I also deal with treating gum tissue disorders, things like lichen oans or mucous membrane pemphigoid and various disorders like that. I also do some gum biopsies.
Dr. Bryson: So, if a patient is referred to you, what can they expect if they see you or another member of your team?
Dr. Ross: When patients come in, obviously I like to hear what brought them in, especially people who maybe haven’t been to a dentist in many, many years. Do they have any kind of discomfort? What are their treatment goals? What was their previous dental experience?
Many people have a lot of anxiety around dental appointments and we talk about that. I go to various medical conditions they have on medications they take, so we spend a lot of time just talking.
In general, I will need some x-rays to make a diagnosis. So, either the patients will bring them, or we will take them. I look in their mouths and do a full exam, and sometimes we take molds of their teeth. Depending on the case, I sometimes ask that they come back for a separate visit to come up with a plan if I need to talk to other dentists or doctors. But generally we try to give them options in terms of treatment, and we really try to give them a diagnosis.
