Could Obesity Advice Be Added To Dental Exams?
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- Published: Tuesday, 01 February 2022 07:02
- Written by Guy Tuggle
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63% of Brits are overweight or obese. Could the dental profession be asked to add obesity to its broadening check-up checklist?
Dentists are no strangers to educating their patients into pursuing a healthy lifestyle. From reducing sugar intake and avoiding sweet snacks to smoking cessation and paying attention to alcohol intake, a patient’s dental visit has assumed an ever-broader scope over the past couple of decades. And in future, the profession may be asked to add obesity to its expanding checklist.
Almost two thirds of Brits are overweight or obese and the fallout of this ‘epidemic’ is costing the NHS billions of pounds to treat a litany of related diseases including diabetes, cardiovascular disease and mental health concerns. GPs and their practice teams are used to discussing obesity with patients and now a team at Loughborough University is to study how dentists too could incorporate the subject into their oral health consultations.
Led by Amanda Daley, Professor of Behavioural Medicine of the University’s Centre for Lifestyle Medicine and Behaviour, the research will examine how dental examinations could dovetail with the NHS’s ‘Make Every Contact Count’ campaign with training provided to teach dentists how to broach a highly delicate subject with their patients.
Daley wants to explore how obesity screening could be incorporated into the dental setting. 22 million adults visit a dentist each year along with 7 million children.
Professor Daley said “The case for dentists to be involved in reducing population obesity is strong. Like GPs, dentists are part of primary care health services and are ideally positioned to screen and intervene to reduce obesity.” Because many dental patients are regular attenders the opportunity for six-monthly or annual monitoring was seen as strong. “If we are serious about reducing obesity in the population it will require an ‘all hands-on deck’ approach, including active advocacy from dental health professionals” said Daley.
The research will last for two years and is being funded by the National Institute for Health Research. Professor Daley’s case for adding obesity to the dental setting has much to commend it, not least because of the proven link between oral health and diet and between diet and obesity. How it would be integrated remains a challenge in a system which, at least until the NHS contract is reformed, sees dentists already hard stretched to deliver comprehensive care within the time constraints available. Addressing this, including possible ‘financial incentives’, will be one of the most interesting conclusions of the research.
Further reading: Professor Daley wrote “Time to get our teeth into reducing obesity: should dentists screen and deliver interventions to reduce obesity in the population?” in the BDJ on 28th January.
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