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| "Women's Life and Health" is the interview series that features active professional women about their health, lifestyle and career. |
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| Interview
vol.1 |
Gilia Rethman -Part1 |
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| From
a women's health point of view, would you
tell us about the importance of oral health?
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| The more we are realizing
about the connection between oral health
and overall health, the more we understand
the importance of good oral health for women.
This is important not only for the woman
herself, but if she is even considering
having children, it's very important. We
realize now that the connection between
gum disease and pre-term low-birth weight
babies is quite strong. So women who are
pregnant, or who are thinking of becoming
pregnant, need to make sure that their oral
health is good to help ensure that they
have a healthy baby. There are now studies
showing that if severe gum disease is treated,
the chances of having a low-birth weight
baby are greatly reduced. So that is important
information for women to understand. I heard
an explanation one time that really made
an impression on me. If you have severe
gum disease in your mouth, affecting most
of your teeth, it is very similar to having
a sore or infection on some other part of
your body that is actually the size of the
palm of your hand. |
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| Oh! |
| That's shocking,
because if you have a sore the size
of your palm on your arm or on your
leg, you would not ignore that. But
for some reason, because this infection
occurs in the mouth, people think
it is not important. |
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| Maybe because you don't see it in your mouth by yourself? |
| That's correct -
it is not as visible. But it's still
there. And let's consider that it
is this size (pointing out her hand).
It needs to be treated! The mouth
is a part of the body, so it makes
sense that an infection in the mouth
would affect the rest of the body.
As I mentioned before, it's quality
of life and overall health, related
to oral health, that is important.
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| I see. What other aspects of oral health are important in relation with women's health? |
| When women become older
and go through menopause, they start to
worry about osteoporosis. There is some
research showing that there may be a connection
between bone loss in the mouth and osteoporosis.
So we are not only looking at oral health
and overall health at a younger age during
the time of life when a woman could have
children, but also later in life. |
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| In
Japan, it seems that the general public
doesn't understand the relationship between
oral health and systemic health. What about
in the US? |
| In the US, there has been
lots of information not just in medical
and dental publications but in lay publications
as well. For example Time magazine, which
is big magazine in the US, has had articles
about cardiovascular disease, diabetes,
pregnancies and other conditions. These
types of publications are also picking up
the information regarding oral health and
overall health. In fact, the American Dental
Association and the American Medical Association,
for the first time in their history, had
a press conference together in February
to talk about the oral/systemic link. I
think such medical and dental efforts will
create even more press, not just in medical
and dental literature but in the lay press,
too. I think there are a number of reasons
why this is happening. For example, most
of the oral/systemic research has been conducted
in the US so that creates attention. Plus,
organizations like The American Academy
of Periodontology have been at the forefront
of promoting the concept of oral health
and good systemic health for several years.
AAP press releases have gone in publications
that people read, such as newspapers and
magazines. |
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