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http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/56458
In the February 25 Issue:
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Healthy teeth, healthy people
Talk leaves journalists flossing for details on oral health
Web edition
: Saturday, February 20th, 2010
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Some scenes deserve to be deleted – or in this case
extracted.
But since I attended “Smiles for Life: How Oral Health Leads to General Health,” this little write-up on a not-so-scientific press conference appears under the heading “On the Scene.” Unfortunately for me and about two dozen other reporters, being on the scene was the journalistic equivalent of getting a filling.
The premise of the presentation was that the mouth is a portal into the body, so you can’t have good general health without good oral health. Periodontal disease has an impact on diabetes, cardiovascular disease, stroke and adverse pregnancy outcomes. And chronic infection in the mouth takes its toll on the rest of the body.
Well, that’s the sugarcoated version. In reality, these are hypotheses. They seem plausible enough. The trouble: no data.
Found in: Body & Brain
But since I attended “Smiles for Life: How Oral Health Leads to General Health,” this little write-up on a not-so-scientific press conference appears under the heading “On the Scene.” Unfortunately for me and about two dozen other reporters, being on the scene was the journalistic equivalent of getting a filling.
The premise of the presentation was that the mouth is a portal into the body, so you can’t have good general health without good oral health. Periodontal disease has an impact on diabetes, cardiovascular disease, stroke and adverse pregnancy outcomes. And chronic infection in the mouth takes its toll on the rest of the body.
Well, that’s the sugarcoated version. In reality, these are hypotheses. They seem plausible enough. The trouble: no data.
Journalist after journalist, like dental hygienists poking
and prodding with shiny metal tools, asked different versions of the same
question: Can you provide any numbers from epidemiological studies that
quantify the nature of this association or the relative risk?
The answers: We are not at that level of sophistication, we
don’t know the impact at the moment, we are right at the threshold in these
investigations.
“It feels like we are pulling teeth,” said David Derbyshire
of The Daily Mail. Seems no one knew how
to find the news in this news conference.
For journalists to be convinced, they need something to sink
their teeth into.
Found in: Body & Brain
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Full-mouth Tooth Extraction Lowers Systemic Inflammatory and Thrombotic Markers of Cardiovascular Risk", by B.A. Taylor, G.H. Tofler, et al., appearing in the J Dent Res 84(1):74-78, 2006.
there's a good summary on medicalnewstoday dot com
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