DrBicuspid.com Hygiene Insider

Dear Hygiene Insider,

The potential link between periodontal disease and adverse pregnancy outcomes continues to garner attention, with a number of studies reporting varying results.

Now a new study in the Journal of Periodontology has found that periodontal disease was more severe and a periodontitis diagnosis more frequent in mothers with preterm or low-birth-weight babies versus those who had full-term, normal-weight infants. However, there were no differences in the bacterial profile of the two groups.

Read more in this latest Hygiene Insider Exclusive.

In other Hygiene Community news, Dr. Pamela McClain -- the immediate past-president of the American Academy of Periodontology -- shared her thoughts on the oral-systemic health link, the need for dental practitioners to spend more time on patient education, and how her background as a hygienist has benefited her as a dentist and periodontist. Click here to read more.

Meanwhile, if dental hygienists don't integrate the growing evidence on the oral-systemic link into their practices, they will have forfeited a great opportunity to define themselves as healers rather than mechanics, said Casey Hein, BSDH, during a seminar at the Pacific Dental Hygiene Conference. Read more.

Also, acknowledging that "increasing momentum" and support for midlevel providers (MLPs) could make it difficult to defeat legislation supporting unsupervised MLPs, the Washington State Dental Association is throwing its weight behind an alternative proposal.

Over in South Carolina, a lawmaker says the state should consider routine health inspections of dental offices, as is done in 15 other states. But another legislator who's also a dentist questions the need for such inspections, saying several state agencies already oversee the facilities and respond to complaints. Read more.

In a related story, U.S. dental practices need to improve their compliance with and implementation of infection control guidelines from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, according to a study in last month's Journal of the American Dental Association.

Meanwhile, while the trend of green practices is growing, patient safety takes priority over environmental concerns when it comes to infection control, according to a seminar last month at the ADA Annual Session that included tips to help dental offices make smart green product choices.

Also, dental patients are notoriously inattentive to oral hygiene instructions, but there is something hygienists can do to make them pay more attention, according to another presenter at the ADA meeting: Appeal to their emotions. Read more.

And despite its many proven advantages to improving dental health, fluoride varnish is still not used regularly in many U.S. dental offices. But a number of recent product improvements could change this scenario.

Finally, a new study in the journal Gut has found significant associations between antibodies for multiple oral bacteria and the risk of pancreatic cancer.