Toronto medical clinic integrates medical and oral health services

Dental Tribune Canada

Thu. 9 November 2017

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TORONTO, Ontario, CANADA: Under the banner “Your Mouth is Part of Your Body,” a Toronto group medical practice is now offering preventive oral health care within its clinic. MCI’s integration of medical and preventive oral health care seamlessly in one clinic is a first in Canada. This new model is important to the better management of diabetes, arthritis and other chronic diseases, as well as oral health.

Poor oral health can increase inflammation, destabilize blood sugars and raise the risks of cardiovascular disease and stroke. Similarly, patients with diabetes, arthritis, Parkinson’s, mood disorders, hypertension or who are taking several medications typically experience significantly poorer oral health (such as caries and periodontal disease).

MCI Medical’s Six Points Clinic in Etobicoke, a suburb of Toronto, has a registered dental hygienist performing free consultations for adult patients attending the clinic. Patients at high risk of poor oral health have plaque removed followed by application of the topical antiseptic tooth coating Prevora.

MCI President Madeline Walker has championed this new service. “Many of our patients have no dental insurance and are very mindful of the cost of going to the dentist. These patients make only irregular visits to the dentist, if at all,” Walker said.

Dr. P. Wong, family physician at the clinic, said, “Given that poor oral health can jeopardize overall health, we are pleased to provide this preventive oral health service.”

A partner to this integrated care model at the Six Points Clinic is CHX Technologies, a Toronto pharmaceutical company and developer of Prevora. “Prevora is very safe and uniquely effective in managing the bacteria that cause poor oral health in adults,” said Ross Perry, president of CHX. “It works so well that CHX offers the patient a warranty on better oral health over three years,” Perry said. According to the company, Prevora is the only Health Canada approved preventive treatment for dental decay in high-risk adults.

One in three Canadian adults experience recurrent dental decay, and another one in three are at high risk of poor oral health because of other chronic diseases such as diabetes and arthritis. Poor oral health is considered by many to be one of the most expensive medical conditions for Canadian adults. A primary cause is oral dysbiosis — an imbalance of bacteria in dental plaque — which is unaffected by restorative treatments such as fillings and crowns.

Prevora was discovered by researchers at the University of Toronto and commercialized by CHX Technologies. CHX describes the drug as being the most studied new product in preventive oral health care. In controlled studies, Prevora was shown to reduce dental decay by up to 70 percent in one year, the company reports. Canadian dental practices that have used the product for 10 years have adult patients on Prevora who have gone for years without a cavity or dental repairs, according to the company.

MCI is Canada’s largest corporate network of family medical clinics and walk-in clinics. It runs 26 clinics in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton area and in Calgary. The network logs more than 800,000 patient visits each year.

CHX Technologies is an international, privately held pharmaceutical company dedicated to preventing poor oral health.

(Source: CHX Technologies)

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