oral health isn’t my job, right?
Alexandra Bennett
A patient who arrives at the hospital will be unable to proceed with surgery if her teeth are not healthy. This particular patient needed emergency surgery on one of his vital organs upon arrival and subsequent intensive follow-up care, for which he needed to be hospitalized. Due to the many potential complications of his periodontal disease, the oral surgery team, which consists of two oral surgeons for the whole UMass hospital system, decided it was necessary to remove the patient’s six bottom teeth that were remaining. All that remains in the patient’s mouth in this photo are dissolvable stitches and a chance at delaying life-threatening infection.
My original reflection on this photo conveyed the story about why this particular patient needed to be seen by an oral surgeon in order to move forward with the rest of his medical care, speaking as if treating his life-threatening oral health disease was just another box to check before addressing his ACTUAL health concerns. During the last two weeks of our population health clerkship, I learned about many facets of the healthcare system that have been adapted to include to oral health. Yet many of us still maintain and perpetuate this stark separation between the mouth and the rest of the body. Despite receiving additional education on oral health, I still found myself guilty of thinking that since there is an independent profession whose business is solely concerned with oral health it was not my job to be concerned with diseases of the mouth. However, the extreme and emergent nature of this patient in the ICU forced me to realize how much of a misconception this is and just how dangerous my ignorance could be for my patients. If we overlook just one aspect of a patient’s medical care, it could be disastrous for the patient’s health. A physician would not intentionally ignore a vital part of the body like the brain or the kidneys because they are not trained to diagnose and treat diseases that affect only those parts of the body. Therefore, there is no reason to disregard the mouth entirely and not consider it as a vital part of the body as well. We each have the responsibility as future physicians, nurse practitioners, or dentists to care for the patient as a whole and to work with each provider that our patients are connected with to deliver the most comprehensive and appropriate care.
Alexandra Bennett is a second-year medical student interested in surgery and medical education. She wrote these reflections at the beginning and end of her Population Health Clerkship in oral health, which helped her to realize how important writing and introspection are for personal growth.
