June 20, 2008
Suggest That Your Physician Include Your Dentist In Your Health Care Team
Ask your physician about working with your dentist, who is knowledgeable about diabetes, as an important part of your treatment team and ask your physician to communicate with your dentist as to how your diabetes is being treated, particularly if you’re having problems with glucose controls.
Depending on the size of the area where you live, your access to medical care, and the type of medical centers available, you may find a medical center that focuses on diabetes care. There, health professionals may already work as a team.
But that’s not always true. Frankly, some physicians may balk at first when you ask them to be part of a health team with you and your dentist. Most of us in the medical and dental professions take a lot of pride in our work and can be a bit possessive about our patients. As a result, some care providers may initially resist the idea of forming a health care team, but these teams can be extremely beneficial to you in your care and in mapping out your management plan to help you control diabetes symptoms.
Assure your physician that you’re satisfied with the care you’re getting (that is if you are satisfied) but that you want to see if a team approach that combines oral health and physical health treatments can improve your overall health, especially your diabetes management. Your physician’s first concern is your well being. Most are very willing to do what they can to try to help patients improve their health, especially for patients trying to control a serious disease like diabetes.
Is there a secret enemy fighting your efforts to manage your diabetes? For more diabetes information, get your free five-lesson mini-course on diabetes and your teeth at DentistryForDiabetics.com.
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