How can we benefit patients by integrating oral health into our daily practice?

Few would disagree that good oral health has many health benefits. This session will show how advice to patients and referral to a dentist can improve health outcomes for general practitioners’ (GP) patients. It will also provide guidance on GP management of dental presentations.

A wealth of evidence has demonstrated how good oral health improves overall health, including the risk for diabetes mellitus, heart disease or adverse pregnancy outcomes. Immediate effects of treating poor oral health are the improvement of nutrition, the reduction of high blood pressure and the reduction of blood glucose levels in patients managing diabetes. This session will provide medical practitioners with the relevant information to provide valuable advice about these relationships for the benefit of their patients’ health.

This session will also support GPs to understand basic aetiology and treatment options of common dental presentations, and how we can partner effectively for integrated care through prevention, disease management, and timely, appropriate referrals.

Speakers

Professor Joerg Eberhard, med. dent., MME , is a dental scientist translational researcher and Chair of Lifespan Oral Health in the University of Sydney Dental School and the Charles Perkins Centre of the University of Sydney. He graduated in Dentistry in 1993 from the University of Duesseldorf, Germany and was trained as a periodontist at the University Hospital Kiel afterwards. In 1999 he started a postdoctoral fellowship at the Department of Biochemistry at the University of California at Santa Barbara and was awarded the Venia Legendi in 2003 at the University of Kiel. Between 2005 and 2007 Professor Eberhard was trained at Heidelberg University in Medical Education. From 2008 to his relocation to Australia, he was full professor and clinical scientist at Hannover Medical School.

Dr Ruth Heredia is a dentist with a wide range of experience in public and private dentistry, including previous appointments at tertiary hospital dental clinics for medically compromised patients at the Alfred, Royal Melbourne Hospital, and Peter Mac. Dr Heredia is currently the Clinical Lead Dentist at a community dental agency, and also works in the corporate body of public dental health, Dental Health Services Victoria, as the Principal Oral Health Advisor statewide.

Learning outcomes:

By the end of this session, you will be able to:

• describe the relationship between oral and overall health
• identify and advise at-risk patients and implement relevant referral pathways
• utilise resources to guide you through a dental presentation of a patient in your clinic.