Hong Kong Doctor's Views of the Periodontal Health-General Health Link

Background & Objectives: Emerging evidence shows that periodontal disease is associated with an increased risk of systemic illnesses, such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes mellitus and adverse pregnancy outcomes. Considering the strong link between oral health and general health, it would be therefore interesting to know if our medical colleagues are aware of the link of periodontal diseases to systemic disorders and the relevant clinical implications. This study aimed to investigate i) the views of Hong Kong medical doctors on the relationship between oral/periodontal health and general health; ii) how often and what common oral problems medical practitioners may encounter in their daily practice; iii) the views of co-management of patients with both oral/ periodontal diseases and systemic diseases; and iv) the factors that may influence their concerns on referral, such as the nature of practice, training background and continuing education.

Methods: A questionnaire was sent by mail to medical doctors who were randomly selected from the full registered residential list of the Hong Kong Medical Council. A total of 800 registered doctors were included in the study.

Results: 191 questionnaires were returned. Of them, 68.6% of the subjects (131/191) had not received any basic dental education during their undergraduate training, and less than 10% received some continuous medical education associated with dentistry. 84.3% of the doctors (161/191) had encountered patients seeking consultations for their oral health problems. 82.2% (157/191) would refer patients with both diabetes mellitus and periodontal disease to a dentist, and 87.9% (168/191) would refer pregnant patients with periodontal disease to a dentist.

Conclusions: While dentists and doctors should co-manage patients at risk from systemic-periodontal interrelations, medical doctors could benefit from continuing medical education on this aspect of their practice. This would be beneficial to patients in managing both oral/periodontal health and general health.