Dental Asia May/June 2018
For more than two decades, Dental Asia is the premium journal in linking dental innovators and manufacturers to its rightful audience. We devote ourselves in showcasing the latest dental technology and share evidence-based clinical philosophies to serve as an educational platform to dental professionals. Our combined portfolio of print and digital media also allows us to reach a wider market and secure our position as the leading dental media in the Asia Pacific region while facilitating global interactions among our readers.
For more than two decades, Dental Asia is the premium journal in linking dental innovators
and manufacturers to its rightful audience. We devote ourselves in showcasing the latest dental technology and share evidence-based clinical philosophies to serve as an educational platform to dental professionals. Our combined portfolio of print and digital media also allows us to reach a wider market and secure our position as the leading dental media in the Asia Pacific region while facilitating global interactions among our readers.
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Clinical Feature<br />
ENT and Dentistry:<br />
Sample Cases for the Need to Work Together<br />
by Dr. Derek Mahony (Orthodontics) and Dr. David McIntosh (ENT)<br />
Ear, Nose and Throat specialists (ENT) and dentists alike,<br />
dedicate their professional careers to the management<br />
of the upper aerodigestive tract and its appendages. It<br />
is very simple to provide clinical conditions where there<br />
is an overlap between the two professions, with the<br />
following immediately coming to mind: obstructive sleep apnoea,<br />
reux disease, bruxism and interceptive orthodontics as it relates<br />
to facial growth and development, and upper aerodigestive tract<br />
malignancies.<br />
As to be expected, the paradigm by which one group of<br />
specialists look at one thing is moulded by their education and<br />
learning. The old analogy of three blindfolded people feeling a<br />
dierent part of an elephant, and coming to dierent conclusions<br />
as to what is before them, comes to mind. For the dental profession,<br />
the focus of assessment is the teeth, and for ENT it is everything<br />
above the palate.<br />
The truth is, however, that we are all dealing with the same<br />
anatomical landscape, and by understanding each other’s<br />
perspective, a greater appreciation of the whole picture can emerge<br />
especially with respect to clinical management.<br />
The following summarises supportive literature as to why<br />
dentists that do more than “drill and ll” should include an ENT<br />
surgeon as part of their clinical team. Likewise, it behoves an ENT<br />
who has an interest in working with dentists, to appreciate their<br />
perspectives on clinical conditions.<br />
Clinical Assessment<br />
One of the biggest areas of dental medicine is the eld of upper<br />
airway obstruction. There is a signicant number of untreated<br />
obstructive sleep apnoea, in the community, and this applies to both<br />
children and adults, alike. Of all the medical professions, dentists<br />
are by far the group that pays more attention to examining the oral<br />
cavity than any other. Such examinations, however, may only be<br />
conned to the teeth and adjacent mucous membranes, which is a<br />
shame as it presents a signicant opportunity to detect additional<br />
pathology and provide advice on subsequent management that<br />
can make a medical dierence to patients.<br />
Deviated septum<br />
DENTAL ASIA<br />
MAY / JUNE <strong>2018</strong><br />
41
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