Recently, one of our Partners in Prevention asked about whether all high-risk patients on Prevora need to continue with this preventive treatment past year 1. What were the markers, she asked, for continuation on maintenance preventive care?
This is a good question, particularly as the number of patients with other chronic systemic diseases, grows in our aging community.
The simple answer is a high-risk caries patient, just like a patient with advanced periodontal disease, likely needs a preventive maintenance program. Specifically, we recommend these patients continue with Prevora at semi-annual intervals.
Let me give some common examples of the types of patients who need on-going prevention.
- Diabetic patients, because their caries rate is more than twice that of non-diabetic patients. The diabetic patient can comprise up to 20% of many dental practices which serve older communities.
- Patients with Parkinson’s, Sjogren’s and at the pre-dementia stage where caries rates are at exceptionally high levels.
- Stroke victims.
- Chronic, heavy smokers.
- The medication-induced xerostomic, who often also has the above conditions.
These kinds of patients remain at high risk, even though their plaque is reduced with Prevora.
Are there high-risk patients with episodic decay, and who might thereby safely take an interval from Prevora treatment? Yes, and in those cases, we recommend shared diagnosis of caries risk at the end of the first year of the Prevora treatment plan.
By: Ross Perry
Partners In Prevention
Sournced: Partners In Prevention – http://partnersinprevention.ca/who-gets-what-and-when/
