The Medical History Form and Salivary Diagnostics

A medical history form is a starting point to guide conversations and to make connections between oral health and overall health. Consider re-configuring your current medical history form to quickly be able to visualize oral systemic connections and/ or concerns. These 5 questions should be asked on your current health history form.

1) Has a parent, sibling or grandparent had a heart attack or stroke? Yes__ No__
2) Has a parent, sibling or grandparent had diabetes? Yes__ No__
3) Has a parent, sibling or grandparent had periodontal disease? Yes__ No__
4) Has a parent, sibling or grandparent had COPD? Yes__ No__
5) Has a parent, sibling or grandparent had cancer? Yes__ No__

What do all these questions have in common? Inflammation. The answers provided by the patient indicate a predisposing genetic background for inflammatory disease .These questions help to determine risk and when coupled with a salivary diagnostic tests such as a pathogen analysis, (i.e. MyPerioPath) and a genetic risk assessment test like Celsus One, you have an even more complete picture. Asking these questions and having them grouped near or at the beginning of the medical history form allows for the dental professional to quickly evaluate a patient’s predisposition for inflammatory disease.

Once high risk patients are identified, oral systemic periodontal treatment planning is crucial. Consulting the medical history and the salivary test results, enables a dental professional to create an individualized successful systemic periodontal plan for a patient. Through the use of a well-developed medical history and salivary diagnostics results, dental professionals are uniquely positioned to help guide a patient not only to reduce oral inflammation but total body systemic inflammation as well, thus potentially extending lifespans.

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Traci Warner, RDH

Throughout her almost 30-year career as a Dental Hygienist, Oral Medicine Coach and Facilitator and Patient Communication Skills Coach with LionSpeak, a communication coaching company. Traci Warner, RDH, has observed the connection between oral and systemic health in her patients. Through continuing education and research, she started to take a proactive role in partnering with her patients to inform them and better equip them to manage their total wellness. Understanding relationships between periodontal (gum) disease and major health episodes such as heart attacks, diabetes and stroke, as well as the systemic implications of oral infection and inflammation, Traci has made it her life’s mission to raise awareness of oral health as a crucial part of an integrated approach to whole-body wellness. Traci understands all too well the importance of exceptional communication skills within the workplace, as she has managed a highly successful dental practice for many years. She sees firsthand the importance of delivering powerful conversation skills to the patients and how important it is to empower your team to enjoy their workday while delivering exceptional customer service.

Traci is a graduate of the Ferris State University School of Dental Hygiene and Dawson Academy’s Dental Institute for Systemic Health. She is a member of the American Academy for Oral Systemic Health and has served as a professor at Baker College of Cadillac, Michigan.

Latest posts by Traci Warner, RDH (see all)

• Take Control & Sense of Security - June 26, 2020
• Communication is Key - May 15, 2020
• The Medical History Form and Salivary Diagnostics - July 28, 2017