Should Dentists Ask about Patients’ Alcohol Consumption?
Dentists writing for the Royal College of Surgeons Dental Journal feel that dentists should also play a role in spotting the signs of excessive alcohol consumption and recommending lifestyle changes for patients who show signs of above average drinking.
The dental writing team felt that handing out questionnaires before consultations and then providing a thorough check up could help dentists pin point any alcohol related oral and general health problems and discussed the damage excessive drinking can have:
“Alcohol misuse can impact on the oral health of patients attending primary care services in numerous ways.
Excessive alcohol consumption is not only a risk factor for sustaining orofacial injury (either through falls, road traffic accidents or interpersonal violence) but also implicated in the aetiology of potentially fatal oral disease, including cancers of the mouth, larynx, pharynx and oesophagus.”
A recent rise in oral cancer to 6,000 per year is another incentive for dentists to ask their patients about their alcohol consumption, with drinking being one of the main causes of the disease.
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