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  • OUTLOOK

Dentists and doctors need to play on the same team

Breaking down the division between mouth and body should lead to better health care.
  1. Shervin Molayem

    1. Shervin Molayem is a periodontist and director of the Mouth Body Research Institute in Los Angeles, California.

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Every year in the United States, more than 100 million people visit their physician but do not go to their dentist. This medical–dental divide is a problem because oral health care is so important. Oral health affects how we speak, eat and breathe. Painful toothache and other conditions lead to lost work and school days. In elderly people, clinical studies show that maintaining healthy teeth is linked to longevity and higher quality of life1. In the United Kingdom, more than 26,000 children between 5 and 9 years old were admitted to hospital because of tooth decay in 2017–18 — more than twice as many as were hospitalized by acute tonsillitis.

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doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-021-02919-3

This article is part of Nature Outlook: Oral health, an editorially independent supplement produced with the financial support of third parties. About this content.

References

  1. Ikebe, K. et al. Commun. Dent. Oral Epidemiol. 40, 406–414 (2012).

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  2. Marouf, N. et al. J. Clin. Periodontol. 48, 483–491 (2021).

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  3. Gomes, S. C. et al. J. Clin. Periodontol. 48, 880–885 (2021).

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  4. Lloyd-Jones, G., Molayem, S., Pontes, C.C. & Chapple, I. J. Oral Med. Dent. Res. 2(1), S1 (2021).

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Competing Interests

The author declares no competing interests.

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