Editor’s blog 9: With a wave and a smile

Hello once again, and welcome to the latest editor’s blog\. With a lot of news and the World Aesthetic Congress just recently gone, it’s proving to be a great time for the website\. So let’s get going.

It’s been a busy old time in the Preventive Dentistry offices with frankly all manner of excitement going on. We’ve been inundated with responses to news stories, and a lot of entries to the Preventive Dentistry Article Awards. There is still plenty of time to enter, so please, if you have an article in you, send it in. All you have to do is write around 800 words on the title: The way forward: The future of preventive dentistry, and you could be in with a chance of winning some of the fantastic prizes available, including £1000 and a day in the surgery with the legend that is Ian Peace. What are you waiting for? Write, I say, write!

News
A couple of items caught my eye this week. Including this story about a new course being launched at Kent University. A unique degree course aimed at dental care professionals will be launched at the University of Kent’s Medway campus this autumn.

The BSc in Primary Dental Care – believed to be the first degree of its kind in the United Kingdom – is for qualified professionals such as dental nurses, hygienists and therapists, orthodontic therapists and clinical dental technicians.

A flexible timetable for the degree programme at Medway, including weekend teaching sessions and an emphasis on work-based learning, means that dental staff will, for the first time, be able to combine their normal work duties with study for a Bachelors-level qualification.

The other story to catch my eye was about Research that suggests a link between periodontitis and rheumatoid arthritis. Patients with rheumatoid arthritis appear to have a higher prevalence of gum disease than healthy people, according to new research.

Scientists examined the oral health of 57 people with rheumatoid arthritis and 52 healthy volunteers and found that arthritis patients were nearly eight times more likely to have periodontal (gum) disease.

While some patients’ poor oral health may be due to a lack of manual dexterity, the German researchers believe that other factors may also be involved.

The findings are published in the Journal of Periodontology and editor Dr Kenneth Kornman suggested that inflammation may be the key.

‘Inflammation is already thought to link periodontal disease with other conditions such as cardiovascular disease and diabetes,’ Dr Kornman revealed. ‘We look forward to future research that may reveal the biological mechanisms that link these two important diseases.’

Patients with rheumatoid arthritis are advised to visit a dentist twice a year to help maintain good oral health.

Final thoughts
So that wraps it up for this blog. I’ll be back next week, so until then, take care and get on those forums people, there’s a lot we need to talk about! If you’ve got any news or views you would like to get onto the site, post in the forums or email me [email protected].

Tom Roberts
Managing Editor

Email: [email protected]
Telephone: 01923 851756

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