The eyes may be the window to the soul, but the mouth may be the window to your body.
As it turns out, dentists — long the unsung heroes of medicine — have contributed enormously to our well-being. Starting with pain control. It was a Connecticut dentist named Horace Wells who, in 1844, first realized that nitrous oxide — laughing gas — could safely turn off pain during tooth extractions, making it the first practical use of anesthesia. Before that? A shot of whisky, opium – and sometimes, mesmerism, an early form of hypnosis. That dentist’s pioneering work, soon followed by ether and chloroform, changed all of medicine, making painless surgery finally possible.
Fast forward to us. In the late 1990s opioids, marketed as safe painkillers, instead fueled an addiction crisis that has claimed more than 800,000 American lives, and left millions still struggling with addiction.
And here again, dentists have taken the lead on pain. In the 1990s they began testing combinations of ibuprofen and acetaminophen — like Advil,Tylenol - for serious pain. And it worked! Just last year, a major federally funded study concluded that these common drugs from your medicine cabinet, used together or sequentially, beat opioids for dental pain. Smaller studies have shown similar benefits for other kinds of pain—from post-surgical, to broken bones
As for you, sitting in that dental chair, the person standing beside you is doing - or should be - a lot more than filling cavities. An example: dentists screen for sleep apnea, a serious condition linked with heart disease, where your breathing repeatedly slows or momentarily stops during sleep. Dentists look for tiny scalloped markings on the sides of your tongue, which suggest that you may be pressing your tongue down, and against your bottom teeth during sleep in order to create space for more air to get in. They also look for signs of teeth grinding, which can signal that you’re struggling to move your jaw around, also to create more mouth room to breathe. Primary care doctors rarely do this type of literally in-your-face screenings. Most don’t even ask if you have sleep problems.
The same goes for oral cancer detection. Dentists really get in there, pulling out your tongue and searching about, feeling under your lips, inside your cheeks - looking for white areas or persistent sores. That’s a lot different than “say ah” and a quick peek with a flashlight.
Are we loving our dentists yet?
Here’s another reason: in recent years, researchers have found bacteria linked to gum disease in the brains of people with Alzheimer’s. No one’s quite sure yet what to make of this, but it suggests that detecting and treating oral disease - squarely in dentists’ wheelhouse - may be more important than ever.
So here’s the takeaway: when you’re at the dentist, your mouth is already open — so speak up. I, for one, had no idea how comprehensive a dental appointment really was. You might ask if yours are, too. And if so, how about giving your dentist a nice, healthy smile of gratitude. If not, you might want to keep the conversation going.
