Do you know the relationship between diabetes and oral health?- Alberto Cuevas tells us

Submit to annual reviews in the dentist is the key not only to have a healthy mouth, but also to maintain a good state of general health, since many chronic pathologies, such as diabetes or hypertension, have a direct interrelationBoca, as Alberto Cuevas explains, doctor, dentist and director of the Queipo Maex Cuevas Dental Clinic.

-How is the oral health of the Malaga?

-It's better than years ago, but there is still a long way to go.One in three children under six has decay and more than 90% of adults between 30 and 50 years, too;And most are not treated.The pathologies of the gums have a very high prevalence.In addition, in Spain there are about 8,000 cases of oral cancer per year, of which 75 percent are diagnosed in very late phases, so 1,500 people die annually from this disease, a higher figure even than that caused by traffic accidents.More than 90% of oral cancers are due to smoking and alcohol.They are injuries, white or red spots that appear in the mouth and that making good primary and preventive care would be very easily detected by a professional.

-How has attention changed in a dental clinic?

-Lot.Before we saw patients who came to make treatments of what had been detected and their mouths looked like an isolated part of the body.Today we do not see it that way, because the pathogens that are in the mouth and the processes that bacteria create in the teeth, which are decay, or in the gums, which is gingivitis or periodontitis, we already know that they are related toMany general diseases of the organism.The age of patients has also increased with the increase in life expectancy and many of them have some chronic process.For example, 15 million people suffer from hypertension in Spain and one third of these patients do not know.

- And hypertension What relationship with the health of the mouth?

-Avory hypertension, such as chronic diseases, diabetes, metabolic syndrome, osteoporosis, ... there are many diseases closely related to oral pathology.That is why it is so important to have a healthy mouth and not suffer an infectious or inflammatory focus that at a distance can create in another part of the organism an inflammatory reaction or more ease of forming thrombi or creating remote pathology.The mouth is the gateway to the blood through gum diseases, breathing and lungs through the mouth and nose, and the digestive system.Therefore, that important entrance door, if we have an alteration of the biofilm of the mouth, of the bacteria and viruses that we have there they can create remote problems.There is an intimate relationship with diabetes and cardiovascular alterations, there is a bidirectional relationship between diabetes and periodontal disease as chronic disease.

-Does diabetes can increase the risk of periodontal disease and vice versa?

-Yes, especially the patient with a chronic disease in the mouth who does not know what he has, because he is silent, as with hypertension or diabetes.There are many patients who do not know that they have a periodontal disease, an inflammation of the gums with problems beyond the gum and the tooth, even in the bone.These patients do not respond equally to diabetes treatments, therefore glucose figures are altered, which baffles the endocrine a bit.In the same way, a diabetic has much more easily to have a periodontal disease.

-The health health is also related to dementia ...

-There is an intimate relationship between the inflammatory state of the organism, when chronic diseases appear that interrelate with each other.For example,Metabolic disease, which combines pathologies such as glucose alteration, dyslipemia (high cholesterol), such as obesity, hypertension, periodontal disease and sometimes sleep apnea.That is, a series of chronic pathologies that create an inflammatory state, with the rise of anti -inflammatory protein, cytoquina in the body, and that also creates brain problems, thrombosis, narrowing of the respiratory tract, a reaction of the organism that ends up influencingDementia, with cardiac ischemia, with stroke and with pathologies in which we need to have a healthy mouth.That is why a greater interrelation or commitment of dentists with primary care, that early detection of chronic pathologies and the preparation of the patient against certain treatments is a very important objective that we should have to improve.

- A hypertensive patient or with diabetes, what should you do about your mouth?

-Account that for certain medications that are going to be taken prolonged we prepare the mouth before, before a diagnosis of chronic pathologies it is very important, such as an inflammation of gums, some decay or some pathology that has not been detected in the mouth until then.

-Are you preparing before the treatment of some diseases such as cancer?

- Before undergoing a radio or chemotherapy, the patient must be prepared to prevent him from having a pathology that is later very difficult to solve, because cancer treatments reduce cell growth and also reduce cell replacement in the mouth,With what some sores appear, mucositis, a greater reaction to certain friction, a decrease in the amount of saliva ... all that amount of alterations before starting with the treatment are very easy to treat and already with the initiated treatment they are a supplication forThe patient.

-What will the use of artificial intelligence mean?

-They digitalization as artificial intelligence are revolutionizing all healthcare and dentistry, also, both in the diagnosis, which is achieved more easily and accurately, as in treatments, which are much more precise and allow greater predictability.