The importance of dentistry and medicine collaboration for the improvement of oral and general health
Abstract number: 1732_179
While both medicine and dentistry are healthcare professions devoted to patient care, the interaction between the two disciplines remains limited. It is rare for dental professionals to be integral members of medical teams or hospital/healthcare settings. While referrals between the two professions occur, improved communications between professionals are required to optimise treatment options. This is increasingly required to capitalise on recent advances in health sciences for the management of chronic diseases that have reduced morbidity. Improvements in longevity have resulted in unique populations with special oral care needs and include those with cancer of the head and neck, immunocompromised, HIV/AIDS, geriatrics, residents of long-term care facilities, patients with lifelong conditions, after organ transplantation and those on prescription medications like those for blood-pressure control or anticoagulation therapy. This session will highlight the unique oral care needs for our changing patient population, and how oral health can be improved when dentists and physicians work together.
The role of prescription medications to treat medical conditions and their adverse reactions in the oral cavity will form a separate another area for discussion. Many medications, for instance, are xerostomic. Patients with xerostomia are at increased risk for tooth decay and periodontal disease. The need for increased collaboration between dentists and physicians to prevent or reduce complications by maintaining better oral and medical health will form a core theme for this session. It cannot be any longer ignored that oral health and medical health professionals must unite for optimal management of patient health.
|Session name:||European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases|
|Location:||ICC, Munich, Germany|
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