Many dentists are already taking blood pressure readings and providing tobacco cessation information. So can obesity interventions be far behind?
Dentists say they are interested in helping patients with serious weight issues, but at the same time they are afraid of offending them and appearing judgmental, according to a new study in the Journal of the American Dental Association (November 2010, Vol. 141:11, pp. 1307-1316). The study, conducted by researchers from the University of North Carolina (UNC), also found that a large number of dentists would be more willing to have such discussions if obesity were linked definitively to oral disease.

Some researchers have already started to propose obesity interventions for the dental office, and studies to support this are in progress, but lead author Alice Curran, DMD, an associate professor at the UNC at Chapel Hill School of Dentistry, feels they may have jumped the gun. She expressed concern that this research was conducted before anyone ever asked dentists if they are even interested.

“We thought it would be a good idea to find out if dentists are interested; if they are, who is the most interested; and what they would be willing to do,” she told DrBicuspid.com. “Planning interventions should target interested individuals with proposals they can work with.”

The but is a big one – a professional turf war with physicians who likely would complain to state licensing boards AND how would the dentist charge for such services? (probably the biggest but).

While oral health extends beyond the teeth and gingiva in the body, overcoming time worn assumptions about the role of dentists will be difficult to overcome.