Question of the Week -Dr. Wendy AuClair Clark

1. How are the problems in my mouth related to the problems in the rest of my body?

There has been a lot of talk throughout the medical and dental communities lately of the “oral-systemic connection.” In other words, your mouth is connected to the rest of your body. We have long known that many medications affect your oral health.

For example, over 1800 drugs ranging from over-the-counter cold medicine to prescription hypertension medications to antidepressants have been identified to cause dry mouth. This is very important to let your dentist or hygienist know, as dry mouth makes you very susceptible to dental decay, which left untreated could result in the need for root canals and ultimately tooth loss.

Over the last few decades, there has been a lot of research on inflammatory diseases, including periodontal disease, or gum disease. We are continually finding a stronger relationship between inflammatory diseases such as periodontal disease and heart disease, diabetes, psoriasis, and lupus.

People that have been diagnosed with one of these systemic inflammatory diseases need to work closely with their dentist and hygienist to make sure that their gums stay healthy to prevent gum disease and tooth loss. Likewise, if you have gum disease, you need to monitor your overall health for conditions like heart disease and diabetes.