Where do We Fall Short With the Oral-Systemic Connection?

Practicing dentistry has opened my eyes to a wide variety of exciting breakthroughs. I have witnessed first hand the constant change that leads dentists and other health professionals in search of the newest and latest ideas in equipment, material, practice management, and business techniques. Exciting disciplines such a sleep therapy, botox injections, orthodontia, periodontology, laser therapy, cosmetic and day spas have allowed us to “sub-specialize” and even dedicate entire practices around one or two of these concepts. We can make excellent financial names for ourselves and treat hundreds if not thousands of patients without ever breaking out of our daily routine or even speaking with another health professional.

Operating these successful practices sometimes means that everything else – and I mean everything else – gets put aside for some future date with nirvana. Sadly, as many of you can relate, the consequences are two-fold: First, the medical and dental community isolate themselves from one another by trying to compartmentalize the body and whole health; secondly, we often ignore science and evidence-based truths relating to what we know in the prevention of disease.

Years ago, I noticed this alarming trend happening in my own life. When you are not going out into the world of advanced training you are missing out on all the new types of treatments that are available.  Doctors, training your team is a must.  With renewed purpose of practicing dental medicine, I switched the primary treatment of my dental practice to that of systemic issues. Adding the body gave me a way to work with the medical community, and we moved our office to a medical complex.  I soon became a direct referral link for ENT surgeons, medical oncologists, radiation oncologists, sleep labs, heart doctors, endocrinologist, and others. Furthermore, I quickly became a major part of a collaborative multidisciplinary team linking dentistry to medicine. 

As the oral-systemic link becomes more evident with each passing year, I realize more than ever our role as doctors to teach patients and other health professionals true evidence-based medicine. The way I practice today is completely different than I used to over a decade ago. I have successfully built relationships in the medical community allowing me to better serve my patients.  The benefits have been amazing, and having the ability to do medical billing has also added so much to my patient's ability to get healthy, live longer and feel that we truly care.  Learn how to integrate with the medical world, don't be afraid that doctors don't want too, they do and better yet their patients want it.

Thanks for reading, all the doctors who attend a course with Links2Success.