Here's what dentists can tell about your health

A recent study has found that by using medical and dental records, researchers can identify what is the cause of disease and how the patients with certain diseases will respond to surgery, medication or other interventions.

The study also found that this can determine what the future holds for patients with specific diseases or medical conditions.

In the first study, the results showed that the dentists and oral surgeons are in good compliance with guidelines issued by the American Heart Association (AHA) in 2007, describing that prophylactic antibiotic -prevention of infection complications using antimicrobial therapy - use prior to invasive dental procedures.

The Rochester Epidemiology Project is a collaboration of medical and dental care providers in Minnesota and Wisconsin.

With patient agreement, the organisations link medical, dental, surgical procedures, prescriptions and other health care data for medical research.

After 2007, AHA recommended that only high-risk patients receive the antibiotics.

This group represents a very small fraction of the individuals receiving antibiotics before 2007, said lead study author Daniel DeSimone at Mayo Clinic.

The study will be released online in Mayo Clinic Proceedings.

They found that no significant increase in cases of infective endocarditis following the introduction of updated AHA guidelines.

However, "the major limitation of these studies was the lack of access to dental records," says Dr. DeSimone.

Dr. DeSimone also said that there are a number of health risks for patients when taking antibiotics. "Plus over use of antibiotics can result in increased bacterial resistance, which is a widespread public health problem," he says.

"Using the Rochester Epidemiology Project, we have shown that the new guidelines were very helpful in reducing unnecessary antibiotic use and related issues, without an increase in new cases of infective endocarditis," Dr. DeSimone added.