June 17, 2008
Getting Care From A Physician That Incorporates Diabetes-Related Dental Health Issues
After reading some of our recent blogs you’re probably thinking about your relationship with your dentist and with your physician, and how you can approach getting them both to work with you as a team. If you visit us regularly, you’ve learned some compelling reasons why working with your dentist and your physician as a team to manage your oral health and your physical health can benefit your diabetes management.
So now your question might be “What is the best way to approach my physician about working with my dentist as part of a team to help me better monitor my diabetes and hopefully improve my diabetes control by integrating the care they both offer?”
Just as you did with your dentist, you need to initiate a conversation with your physician about your diabetes care, your diabetes control, and your concerns about your oral health and how that may be affecting your diabetes symptoms. Let your physician know that you’d like to work with him or her and with your dentist to develop an integrated plan for treating your diabetes.
This is a perfect time to talk in detail with your physician about your diabetes and your efforts to control it. Maybe your physician has given you goals in the past, but have you really discussed them? If not, start now and tell your physician how you want to incorporate your oral health goals into your overall health efforts.
It’s difficult for physicians to keep up on all the latest developments in every field. That’s why we recently introduced a doctor-to-doctor newsletter about new research into the diabetes – dental health connections. It’s available free online.
Did you know that all dentists are not equally prepared to assist people who have diabetes with their dental health? For more diabetes information, get your free five-lesson mini-course on diabetes and your teeth at DentistryForDiabetics.com.
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