168. Unlocking the Oral Systemic Connection: Saving Lives through Periodontal Health Awareness

As dental professionals, we must focus on sharing the importance of understanding the oral-systemic connection and the need to treat periodontal disease with our teams and our patients. Citing statistics, like heart disease is a more significant threat to women than breast cancer, can help overcome the common patient objections, such as "it doesn't hurt." We need to set higher standards of patient care and be sure our teams recognize their role in addressing the oral systemic connection, given their frequent patient interactions.