Women - The missing link in dentistry?
By Claudia Salwiczek, DTI (Guest commentary)
I just returned from the Greater New York Dental Meeting where I had the opportunity to conduct a number of interviews with well-known opinion leaders in dentistry.What struck me most about the line-up was that only 1 out of the 30 professionals that I spoke to was a woman.
It is a sad fact that compared to other fields in medicine dentistry is still predominantly a male profession. There are exceptions, of course, such as Dr Catrise Austin, a New York-based dentist, who I recently met to talk about her decision to offer free HIV tests to her patients. Or Dr Bo Chen from Beijing, who I met at the P-I Brånemark symposium in Sweden where she presented a revealing study on patient satisfaction figures with facial and orofacial reconstruction. Unfortunately, though large in impact, these developments and ideas do not usually receive the recognition they deserve.
However, what these examples also demonstrate is that women often tend to develop solutions that are socially applicable and that offer benefits for all members of society; a fact endorsed by a recent World Health Organisation report. In the study on Women and Health, the question was also raised why women generally have to carry much of the health care burden while getting hardly anything back. It may be time for women, especially those working in medical and dental professions, to step up and make their message heard.
It may not happen overnight, but with more and more women overtaking high political and economical positions, it will be difficult for dentistry to hold up to its Boys Club status for much longer. I certainly hope that when I return to New York in 2010, there will be a larger share of female dentists to speak to.
It’s all about saliva
A friend of mine recently had a bacterial infection. In telling me about his problems, the first thing he mentioned was that he had experienced symptoms of dry mouth and matured biofilm. He had also suffered from hypersensitive teeth.
My friend’s example, though trivial in nature, is a good example by which to demonstrate the way the oral cavity functions as a window to our inside world. The latest research has shown that it can be a very reliable indicator of our inner state of health. Every day, the salivary glands secretes over 1.5 litres of saliva into the oral cavity, carrying with it valuable information. These biomarkers can be from sites of disease, or the salivary glands themselves can produce surrogate biomarkers of disease. The good news is that the information provided by these can be obtained non-invasively, painlessly and with no embarrassment to the patient—without needles or cringing.
Owing to these salivary properties, a dental examination today is no longer only about teeth and gums. Dentists should be aware that they are probably the first to detect signs of systematic diseases in their patients. Take HIV/Aids for example: despite new, effective medication, the latest infection rates still demonstrate a continued increase in poor and developing countries alike. According to a recent report by UNAIDS, for example, an estimated 50 million women in Asia alone are at risk of becoming infected with HIV/Aids by their intimate partners in the next decade. Early detection could significantly reduce morbidity here.
Oral fluid testing technologies are under development and already in use in several dental offices in Europe and the US. It will be years, perhaps even decades, before these tests are a regular part of every visit to the dentist, but there is no doubt that they will play a valuable part in the management and control of worldwide epidemics, such as HIV/Aids or cancer.
