Studies have shown a link between cardiovascular disease and oral health. The evidence is growing: oral health is connected to overall health.
In an effort to increase awareness; expand access to equitable, integrated healthcare; and educate patients and clinicians about the connection between oral health and heart health, the American Heart Association, in collaboration with Delta Dental, has developed and launched the Healthy Smiles, Healthy Hearts™ initiative.
To learn more about the initiative, Becker’s Healthcare recently spoke with Eduardo Sanchez, MD, chief medical officer for prevention at the American Heart Association, and Daniel Croley, DMD, chief dental officer at Delta Dental.
They shared the rationale behind the collaboration, reflected on takeaways from the Healthy Smiles, Healthy Hearts Summit and outlined plans to enhance the integration between medicine and dentistry.
Linked by holistic, prevention-focused missions
While the American Heart Association focuses primarily on heart disease prevention and treatment, the organization’s mission statement is much broader — including the aim “to be a relentless force for a world of longer, healthier lives.” This enables the organization to explore wide-ranging opportunities to improve individual and population health, especially through prevention.
Further, data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that approximately 27 million people in the U.S. see a dentist each year but some of them may not see a doctor.
“Our mission opens the door to think about any and all things that might contribute to someone’s health, through the lens of cardiovascular health,” Dr. Sanchez shared. “We see this as an opportunity to leverage those touchpoints.”
Similarly, while Delta Dental is the nation’s largest provider of dental benefits, serving more than 31 million members, the organization aspires to play a greater role in improving patients’ overall health.
“One of the hallmarks of dentistry is our focus on prevention,” Dr. Croley said. “The big idea that we need to take advantage of is people go to a dentist for prevention. The visit to a dentist could be more than just a tooth check; it could be a health check.”
Creating a new standard of care
Healthy Smiles, Healthy Hearts equips dental professionals to assess cardiovascular risk through blood pressure screenings. Doing so can help drive earlier detection, encouraging timely referrals to improve patient outcomes. Ultimately, this can foster greater integration between dentistry and medicine.
“Taking the blood pressure for every patient who walks in, at every visit, is a practical and tangible way that we will start to see the standard of care increase,” Dr. Croley said.
Creating and disseminating this new standard won’t happen overnight. It will be a collaborative process of defining, procedures and protocols, Dr. Sanchez said. Turning them into action, he added, requires visibility, education and communication through multiple channels and metrics.
For dental professionals, this means gaining deeper insight into cardiovascular health and how dentistry can support early identification and patient education around heart disease. For physicians and other primary care professionals, the emphasis is on understanding the role of oral health in total health and encouraging regular dental visits. These educational efforts are supported by practical tools, such as infographics outlining best practices for conducting blood pressure screenings in the dental setting, and office-ready checklists that promote integration into existing workflows.
Collaboration closes care gaps
The Healthy Smiles, Healthy Hearts initiative hosted a summit in March, bringing together stakeholders from different backgrounds including healthcare professionals, standards and curriculum developers, technology innovators, patient advocates and government stakeholders.
Summit attendees learned about the science and connection between oral and cardiovascular health, explored best practices, and identified opportunities to support greater integration between oral and cardiovascular health.
For Dr. Croley, the summit reinforced the idea that oral health and systemic health are connected, but current culture and society tend to undervalue the role of dental visits in overall healthcare. “This initiative is going to help us elevate the understanding of what’s going on in the mouth and will ultimately contribute to overall health,” Dr. Croley said.
Dr. Sanchez observed that the summit helped identify gaps in oral and overall healthcare and initiated an important conversation about closing these gaps.
“There’s a shared commitment to do this work together,” Dr. Sanchez said. “You start by bringing folks together, finding a common agenda, getting on the same page and focusing on building something bigger and better together.”
