Philips Oral Healthcare’s Scientific Symposium, held June 18-19 in Amsterdam, examined the mounting scientific evidence linking oral and systemic health. The company also will present workshops at EuroPerio9, scheduled through June 23 in Amsterdam, that will echo the symposium’s findings.
During its lectures and workshops, speakers at Connecting the Mouth and Body in 21st Century Healthcare discussed developments in scientific research, including the significant shift in the perspective on oral health and overall well-being, particularly in diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and pregnancy, as well as the changing role of digital technology in oral care.
“Our symposium brought together industry leaders facilitating discussion and understanding on the links between overall health and oral healthcare. At Philips, our mission is to improve the lives of 3 billion people by 2025 through meaningful innovations in healthcare,” said Michael-John Kühne, business leader with Philips Oral Healthcare.
“By combining insights, evidence, and learnings, we’re able to focus on driving advancements with our digital solutions and education platforms for dental professionals to help them help their patients, ultimately working together to better outcomes and overall longer-term health and well-being,” Kühne said.
Keynote speaker and dean of the Harvard School of Dental Medicine R. Bruce Donoff, DMD, MD, shared his experience in integration in oral and maxillofacial surgery and oral cancer care with his address. He also addressed the history of medical dental care, its integration into the present, and how dentistry must change its scope to better serve the world’s population, including education, clinical practice, and policy.
Niklaus P. Lang, PhD, MS, DMD, professor emeritus at the University of Berne in Switzerland, discussed guided biofilm therapy within the framework of a Swiss quality-centered periodontal treatment approach. Also, Dr. Alvaro Marco del Castillo explored the role of periodontal disease and inflammation in cardiovascular disease through clinical case studies and the latest developments.
Bruno G. Loos, DDS, MS, PhD, professor of the Academic Center for Dentistry Amsterdam and author of “The Dental Office Can Be Supportive in Cardiovascular Disease Management,” demonstrated the need for close working relationships between the medical community and dental hospitals.
“The treatment of periodontitis not only results in improvement of the periodontal situation, but also in significant improvements of clinical parameters of the cardiovascular system,” said Loos.
Purnima Kumar, BDS, MS, PhD, who researches the human microbiome, shared “Glycemic Control and Oral Health: A Two-Way Street.” Dental hygienist Elmire Boloori, who has her own periodontology and implantology clinic in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, addressed the association of periodontitis and adverse pregnancy outcomes in “Oral Health During Pregnancy.”
Facilitating the discussion throughout the symposium, Iain Chapple, PhD, BDS, looked at periodontitis and mortality via chronic kidney disease as a model of systemic comorbidity to address whether periodontitis is causally linked to systemic diseases or whether the association is purely coincidental in “Periodontitis & Mortality—Cause of Coincidence?”
The symposium additionally discussed the latest trends and digital systems available to patients and practitioners with Robert Kalla, DMD, who has considerable experience in digital systems and patient data management, examining how these systems benefit patient outcomes.
“Digital technologies are considered a real tool in dental public health worldwide,” said Nicolas Giraudeau, DDS, MSc, principal author of E-Health in Dentistry and Oral Medicine, who shared his knowledge of telemedicine in dentistry and oral medicine to the benefit of those patients often with limited access to healthcare.
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