"Open Up And Say Ahhh. Now Rinse."

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DENTAL NEWS
The American Journal of Public Health recently published a report that finds 20 million more Americans see a dentist each year then visit a general physician suggesting that dental offices could be used in the near future to screen the public for chronic health problems.

In other words, the next time you visit the dentist, don't be surprised if they check out more than your teeth. This is because by asking a few questions or administering quick health testthis rigid patients, dentists could identify those who are at risk for diseases such as diabetes, high blood pressure, substance abuse and even obesity.

"The dental office might be a really good venue for identifying or screening for diseases. The dentist, in turn, could refer patients to a primary care provider for further workup," said Shiela Strauss, a professor at New York University College of Nursing who was lead author of the study.

Early Screenings = Early Treatment
But getting dentists to screen patients won't be easy. Andrei Barasch, chairman of dental medicine at Winthrop University Hospital in New York, acknowledged there are barriers to bringing screening programs to dental offices as dental education has changed little over the past decades, and instructors are hesitant to add courses that seem off-topic to oral health. Moreover, insurance companies don't reimburse dentists for the extra time they spend screening patients' general health.

"Getting dentists to screen patients for such health conditions might not be easy. "The dental world and the medical world are separated by a fairly large chasm right now," said Barasch. "Both these tendencies need to change."

However, both Barasch and Strauss believe that this chasm might be close in the near future. "This paper will be a boon to our case, simply because it's evidence as to how much help dentists could provide. We're talking about millions of people here," Barasch said. "Diseases could be detected earlier; patients could be brought into the medical system earlier."