Salivary Diagnostics in General Practice - Webinar By MentorHealth September 6, 2012

Overview: The increasing presence of salivary diagnostics, as an aid in diagnosis and management of periodontal disease, in the current literature makes it imperative that dental professionals become familiar with the concept, and its availability, as part of practice.

The commercial availability of simple salivary collection to identify the nature of the pathogenic bacterial load in periodontal patients is being used today by thousands of dental practices. Add to this the salivary test for the genetic predisposition to periodontal disease, and the important link to systemic entities such as diabetes, familiarity with salivary diagnostics takes on a whole new meaning. We have, in addition, a salivary diagnostic test for HPV (human Papilloma virus) which is the most rapidly increasing cause of oropharyngeal cancer, actually changing the face of the typical patient from the older concept of elderly, smoking, and heavy drinkers to younger, sexually active individuals with no other risk factors.

Dentistry is gradually becoming more of a medically oriented specialty, and the introduction of salivary diagnostics, as a medical laboratory, series of tests, is allowing us to become more targeted in our approach to the adjunctive use of antibiotics, gain insight into the underlying biologic phenotype of our patients for better management, and provide a very sensitive and specific test for patients who are at risk for HPV oropharyngeal carcinoma.

Areas Covered in the Session:
Inflammation and its pathogenesis
The bacterial load concept, and the inflammatory burden
Periodontal disease causation
Pathogen testing reports
Adjunctive antibiotic treatment
Genetic predisposition
Oral cancer statistics
HPV oropharyngeal carcinoma

Who Will Benefit:
Hygienists
Dentists

Official Website: http://alturl.com/bfgqn