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Lookup NU author(s): Emeritus Professor Robin Seymour
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Certain medical conditions and their accompanying drug treatment do have an impact upon oral structures and the delivery of dental care. Recent evidence suggests that oral health could be a significant risk factor for coronary artery disease. Many medical conditions can affect dental care are often over-stated and lack an evidence base. Examples include the need for antibiotic cover in patients at risk from infective endocarditis and the necessity to provide supplementary corticosteroids for those patients on long-term steroid therapy. By contrast, certain systematic drug treatments can have a profound affect on the oral tissue. The most obvious is drug-induced gingival overgrowth. Drugs frequently implicated in this unwanted effect include phenytoin, ciclosporin and the calcium channel blockers. Several risk factors for drug-induced overgrowth have been identified and include age, sex, peridontal variables and a range of drugpharmacokinetic variables. The relationship between oral health and coronary artery disease opens up a potentially new vista for the delivery of oral care. Although the association is convincing, casualty has not been established. If casualty for this relationship can be confirmed then the delivery of dental care and the promotion of oral health will receive a significant impetus.
Author(s): Seymour RA
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Surgeon Journal of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh and Ireland
Year: 2003
Volume: 1
Issue: 4
Pages: 207-214
ISSN (print): 0035-8835
ISSN (electronic):
Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
URL: . .
