Relationships between oral and systemic health

Medicine and dentistry interface at many levels. For example, the focal infection theory, popular at the outset of the 1900s, suggested that systemic ailments could be traced to dental infections which, in those days, were common, chronic, and often untreated. With the advent of modern dental and medical treatment, particularly antibiotics, this relationship was largely forgotten until recently. The discovery of relationships between periodontal disease and heart ailments(2) and maternal oral health and prematurity of offspring,(5) among other recent findings, has rekindled interest in clarifying the role of oral health in general health. In pediatrics, the recent association of lead with dental caries,(12) otitis media with malocclusion,(16) and the continuing controversy of orally induced bacteremia and antibiotic prophylaxis support the concept that oral and systemic health are intimately related. This article describes some important and functional associations between a child's oral and general health, how these can affect treatment, and what physicians need to know about oral health to provide optimal care.