The role of family dentists in perioperative oral management

Abstract

Dentistry is reaching a major turning point in Japan as a result of a continuous growth of the elderly population due to the super-aging society. It is necessary to shift dentistry from a healthy person type to an elderly person type, with an increase in treatment difficulty and risk. In particular, perioperative oral management such as surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and palliative care for cancer patients will be one of the most important and actively-engaged issues. Many studies have already demonstrated the usefulness of perioperative oral management, and each hospital is actively engaged in such activities. Currently, perioperative oral management is often completed in the dental section within hospitals. However, for effective oral management, it is important to establish coordination with a family dentist, in order to clarify his/her role after the completion of hospital oral management. It is considered that the number of patients requiring perioperative oral management will increase in the future, due to extended life expectancy. While a family dentist provides routine patient dental treatment, as well as oral management to eliminate the causes of infectious diseases and maintain oral function in cases involving treatment requirements for perioperative oral management, there is a need to accumulate medical knowledge, and also to educate patients regarding the impact of the oral environment on the entire body. Since patients with perioperative oral management often require careful attention, such as for infectious endocarditis, it is necessary to obtain an appropriate past medical history. Although it will be necessary, in the future, to establish a system for hospital-clinic cooperation for perioperative oral management, in order to ensure smooth cooperation, it may also be necessary to build a cooperative system between hospitals, local dental associations, and family dentists. We consider that the facilitation of both hospital-clinic cooperation and medical-dental cooperation can be useful in improving patient QOL, and that the establishment of a system for perioperative oral management would significantly contribute to such facilitation.