Laura Dorr is the former executive editor of DPR's Modern Dental Network and a regular contributing author.

Laura Dorr

	There’s been a lot of buzz about oral systemic health in the news, and for good reason: A whole host of new discoveries have pinpointed that poor oral health is linked to some very serious medical conditions - and that treating oral health conditions could potentially serve as a preventative measure.

Oral bacteria have long been known to play a role in overall health, but lately periodontal disease and the bacteria that cause it have been specifically linked to health conditions including several types of cancer, pulmonary infection, arthritis, cognitive decline and more. Researchers are hard at work pinpointing whether treating oral health issues could lessen the risk of these serious medical events, but for now, it’s critical to recognize the link and impress upon dental patients the importance of good oral health - because their lives could depend on it.

	Last year, we covered the connections between oral health and 

 and more in the article linked below, but the past 12 months have brought even more important discoveries.

Related reading: 9 of the scariest medical conditions with links to oral health

	Click through the following pages to see seven of the most serious, scary medical conditions that researchers have linked to poor oral health this year. 

	Oral bacteria have been linked to a slew of different cancers, including lung, breast and esophageal, and now pancreatic has been added to the list. A recent study has identified two specific types of oral bacteria that have a correlation with the risk of developing pancreatic cancer.  

	Aches and pains from arthritis may be linked to periodontal disease, according to a study out of Johns Hopkins, which found that oral bacteria could actually be one of the causes of rheumatoid arthritis. "This research may be the closest we've come to uncovering the root cause of RA," says Maximilian Konig, M.D., a former Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine fellow now at Massachusetts General Hospital.

	Extended mercury exposure can be particularly dangerous to a one’s health-and a new study has found that the danger is greatly exacerbated in patients with eight or more dental fillings. Recent research found that adults with more than eight fillings had 150 percent more mercury in their blood than those without fillings.

	Gum disease doesn’t only mean bad news for your mouth: It can also have some very serious effects on your pulmonary system. Researchers found that individuals with periodontal disease had an increased risk of developing lung cancer-and that study participants who smoked, drank or had diabetes were at even higher risk.

	Dental cleanings do more than just keep teeth and gums healthy: New research suggests that there is a link between pneumonia and visits to the dental office. Study authors discovered that regular dental cleaning can actually decrease the risk of pneumonia caused by oral bacteria.

	The dreaded “low T” diagnosis is one that makes many men cringe, but researchers now say there may be a way to help avoid it. A new study discovered that lack of testosterone had a correlation with periodontal disease in monkeys-a discovery that could have big implications for men’s health.

	A new study set out to determine whether periodontitis was associated with increased dementia severity and greater progression of cognitive decline in people with Alzheimer’s disease-and subsequently, whether the treatment of gum disease might also benefit the treatment of dementia.

	Researchers have discovered that a common oral bacteria could help treat celiac disease, an autoimmune disorder that causes severe digestive and other health problems. The discovery could help in developing alternative treatments for those who suffer from the disease.

Articles

Poor oral health, gum disease and endentulism have all been linked by researchers to life-threatening conditions.

7 MORE of the scariest medical conditions with links to oral health

Dental research came a long way this year, and some studies stood out above the rest.
We take a look at some of the most interesting and engaging dental studies and discoveries from 2016.

The top 10 dental discoveries of 2016

	2016 has been an astounding year for dental advancements, from emerging technology and new products, to scientific discoveries and research breakthroughs. 

The field of dental research had an especially impressive year, with new developments and discoveries emerging seemingly every day. We compiled a list of the top 10 most innovative, exciting and game-changing research studies published in 2016, all of which are paving the way for what is sure to be an exceptional next year of dental advancements. 

	Up next: Check out all the new discoveries that emerged in 2016!

	Link discovered between oral health and low testosterone in men

	More than 20 species of macaques, the most widely distributed nonhuman primates in the world, socialize in lively troops and make frequent appearances on National Geographic documentaries. But, what can we learn from one of our closest primate relatives about our own oral health?

	Quite a bit, according to findings from a retrospective study done by Texas A&M University Baylor College of Dentistry researchers. Their work, which was recently published in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology, indicated that lack of testosterone left these monkeys with 

	New research discovers way to eliminate needles for dental anesthetic

	It may be scary to get into the dentist’s chair, but thanks to new research, there’s one thing uneasy patients might not have to worry about anymore: needles.

	Composite restorations of the future may be made of glass

	A few years from now, millions of people around the world might be walking around with an unusual kind of glass in their mouth, and using it every time they eat.

	Gum disease linked to highly deadly cancer

	In recent months, gum disease has been linked to increasing number of major health problems-and researchers have now discovered another illness to add to the list.

	Having multiple fillings could cause toxic levels of mercury in blood

	Extended mercury exposure can be particularly dangerous to a one’s health-and a new study has found that the danger is greatly exacerbated in patients with eight or more dental fillings.

	Preventing cavities may soon be as simple as popping a pill

	Harmful bacteria can be powerful and hard to combat, but researchers at the University of Florida have found a way to fight fire with fire. 

	Chemicals in water bottles, food containers may permanently damage children's teeth

	Chemicals commonly found in plastics and fungicides may be weakening children’s teeth by disrupting hormones that stimulate the growth of dental enamel, according to a new study presented today at the European Congress of Endocrinology.

	Mouthbreathers at higher risk of tooth decay

	Mouthbreathers beware: Annoying your spouse isn’t the only downside of breathing through your mouth while you sleep. A new study has found that people who breathe through their mouth while sleeping are at a higher risk for tooth decay.

	Common oral bacteria could treat troublesome illness

	Researchers have isolated an enzyme from bacteria present in human saliva that has potential as a therapy for celiac disease (CD), an autoimmune disorder that causes severe digestive and other health problems among sufferers when they consume gluten.

	New discovery could reduce need for dental drilling

	The days of the dreaded dental drill-and-fill as the standard solution for tooth decay may be numbered if a discovery by a Creighton University School of Dentistry professor continues to advance.

We take a look at some of the most interesting and engaging dental studies and discoveries from 2016.

	Ghosts are scary. Ghouls are scary. But these creepy apparitions have nothing on some of the terrifying things that happen in the dental practice.

“Surely dentistry can’t be THAT unnerving,” a layperson might say. We wanted to find out just how wrong they are. We polled our readers for the scariest, grossest, freakiest, most bizarre things they’ve seen in the dental practice, and got an overwhelming amount of cringe-worthy responses. There were dozens of astonishing tales, but we narrowed it down to the top 13. Some will make you shiver. Some will make you gag. Some will make you laugh. But all of them are guaranteed to leave you shaking your head in amazement. 

Related reading: Check out last year's top 13 scariest dental horror stories

	We requested the responses be anonymous, so there’s no way of knowing where these amazing stories originated… could it have been in YOUR practice? Check out the top 13 craziest stories to find out.

	Continue to the next page to read the stories.

	I had an elderly gentleman in my chair and when I looked in his mouth to get an idea of what he needed, I saw hair! Real hair all in the vestibule of the mandible. He had a skin transplant and the hair follicles were never removed, so they continued to grow in his mouth. It was long and blonde! Being pregnant at that time, it was too much for me, and I couldn't even be in the room!

	While working on a very relaxed patient, I actually had a tiny spider drop from the ceiling hanging on from his web. It dropped directly into the wide-open mouth I was working on. “OK,” I thought. “I’ll just retrieve it by scooping it out with my mirror. No big deal.” But just as I reached for it, the patient swallowed and down it went. The patient never knew-and I certainly didn’t mention it!

	I had a patient who, despite our advice, used slices of bologna to line her upper denture... and she did this for years! After a while, it made the roof of her mouth look just like bologna as well! It looked totally disgusting (not to mention how it made her mouth smell!)

Editor’s note: We received multiple stories of patients using bologna as denture adhesive… Maybe it’s time for a PSA that lunch meat isn’t approved for dental purposes? 

	I had a new patient come in for an emergency complaining that his bridge was loose. He had a full upper denture and on the lower, he only had his canines holding in an extremely mobile six-unit bridge; it was so loose, I was surprised he didn't just pull it out with his fingers! I explained to him that it had to go and we extracted it. It was the easiest extraction of my life. Neither of the teeth were in bone at all anymore and when I pulled it, the canines had thick calculus caked on all the way to the tips of the roots. The smell alone was something out of a horror movie and the extracted bridge looked like a set of vampire fangs on the tray!

	I got called to the ER for a trauma patient because they couldn't get the patient's "upper denture" out.  When I got there, I realized it wasn't a denture at all-it was his entire upper jaw! He had a Lefort I fracture and the only thing holding his upper jaw "in place" were his greater palatine arteries, veins and nerves... yikes!

	I worked in a practice where the corporate office would only pay to have the biohazard container emptied every three months. Every time the assistant opened it to put something in, it smelled like rotting flesh! No air freshener could take the smell away. 

	Worst of all, toward the end of the three months, gnats started swarming around the container and would fly all around the office. One time I was trying to work on a patient and a gnat was flying over my patient's mouth. The assistant took the large suction and sucked it up! I wanted to die! 

	I had an implant consult with a hearing-impaired patient. This took place in the pre-digital days when we took a Pan with film loaded in a cassette. The first pan came out totally dark. The second attempt was also totally dark. Though the third and final attempt was barely any better, I could discern the edentulous maxilla. However, on the right side of the film was the outline of 3.5 fingers of a child-size hand. My assistant swore she did not touch the film in loading the cassette (and her hands were bigger than that) - and when my patient saw the film, she burst out crying.

	The patient proceeded to explain that her daughter had died the year before, and she had recently seen a psychic who told her that her daughter was trying to reach out to her. Apparently when the daughter had been young, she would get her deaf mother’s attention by putting her hand on her mother’s face - in the same place that the Pan showed the handprint! Maybe her daughter was reaching out to her after all…

	For a while, I worked in a rural area. A patient presented at my practice with her front teeth missing. When I asked how it happened, she reported that her cow backed into her and smashed her into the fence-also breaking four of her ribs! Guess what they had for dinner the next evening?

	We had a patient come in to the practice to re-cement a gold crown. Since it was the last appointment, the doctor cleaned up the old cement in the crown and re-cemented it. After the procedure, I told the patient, "It's good you saved the crown." The patient said, "Yes, I left it on the table but after a few minutes I saw my dog had knocked it on the floor and swallowed it! I had to look for it for few days, but I found it." The DDS and I just looked at each other!

	While updating the medical history of a 75-year-old man, he shared with me that he was planning penile implant surgery soon and pulled out a brochure picturing several options, and proceeded to go over each of them and asked me my opinion on which to choose!

	A patient was on vacation when his crown came out. He re-cemented it himself with a flour and water mixture, and came it to have it permanently cemented when he got home. We placed the crown on the tray while we cleaned the tooth. But then my boss gets my attention and points to the crown with a horrified look: A maggot was crawling out of it! 

	While working as a dental assistant at a Navy base, a patient came into the clinic at opening with a drill bit from his Black & Decker drill in his first premolar. He had tried to drill his own tooth at home and could not get the drill back out! Ouch! We suggested he stay away from at-home dentistry in the future…

	A few weeks into my first job at a dental practice, a front-desk employee was let go. I was warned not to ask about her or even say her name, which I thought it was odd, but didn’t question it. A few months later, the doctor’s desk was broken, like someone had taken a sledgehammer to it. I was curious so I asked a co-worker what had happened to the doctor’s desk. All was revealed… The front-desk employee that was let go months earlier was having an affair with the married doctor and got pregnant. The doctor’s wife found out and demanded she be let go. The doctor went on to have an affair with a married dental assistant. The desk was broken by them having “relations” after work in the doctor’s office. What happens at the dental office, stays at the dental office… except me; I moved on!

Surprise! As a special treat for the Halloween season, we've included a bonus story!

	I had a patient let most of his teeth fall out naturally. He came in and told me his tooth recently fell out while brushing. I asked him what he did with the tooth and he said put it under his lip to keep it in his mouth. He left the tooth there so long I realized after taking a pano that it was still there. His gum tissue grew over the tooth and was holding the tooth horizontally in his mouth. 

Ghosts are scary. Ghouls are scary. But these creepy apparitions have nothing on some of the terrifying things that happen in the dental practice.

The top 13 freakiest dental horror stories

	Everyone knows the dangers of too much sugar: Obesity, cavities and hyperactive children. Weight gain and amped-up children aside, sugar poses a major, but sometimes overlooked, threat to dental health.

We all love candy – and so does streptococcus, a naturally occurring oral bacteria. The bacterium has a major sweet tooth and loves to feed on sugar; but when it does, the result is not-so-sweet for teeth. As the bacteria feeds, the sugar breaks down into acids that can eat away at tooth enamel. These acids cause a lowered pH level in the mouth, leaving chocoholics and those with a sweet tooth vulnerable to higher rates of dental caries and tooth enamel erosion.

	Many popular Halloween treats also pose extra problems because they are sticky – and sticky candies tend to lodge into crevices in your teeth, making them harder to remove and giving bacteria more time to chow down. Increased exposure time means higher risk for an acidic oral environment – leaving teeth even more vulnerable.

	So, with all this in mind, which candies give dental professionals the biggest headaches? We compiled a list of the worst candies for oral health. Think we forgot a cringe-inducing treat? Add it in the comment section below!

	Who doesn’t love this Halloween classic? Dental professionals, that’s who. Just a handful of this seasonal treat packs 32 grams of sugar - which is more sugar than half a pint of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream. In addition, candy corn is soft enough to stick to teeth, increasing the risk for cavities as it creates a cheery home for bacteria to grow.

	 The upside? Candy corn doesn’t have any fat. The downside? SO MUCH SUGAR.

	Invented in 1896, Tootsie Rolls are celebrating their 120

 anniversary this year. In addition to sticking around on the candy shelf, Tootsie Rolls love to stick on teeth, giving bacteria a nice, lengthy window to feed on the sugar. And there’s plenty to go around: Six mini Tootsie Rolls pack 23 grams of sugar.

	120 years of Tootsie Rolls… just imagine the amount of caries they may have caused!

	Another sticky culprit, caramel can be nearly impossible to get off your teeth (or, even worse, out of orthodonture!). On top of being the stickiest substance known to man, caramel is essentially all sugar: Werther’s Original Chewy Caramels have 16 grams of sugar in just six small pieces. The main ingredients? Glucose syrup, sugar and cane sugar syrup.

	Instead of letting the kids dig into all the caramel treats in their candy bags, maybe just offer to buy them a puppy or something instead. In the long run, it might be much less of a headache.

	This candy lives up to its name: The hard sweet can break a jaw, or induce intense jaw pain in dental professionals who are clenching their teeth in frustration. In addition to being hard enough to crack a tooth, jawbreakers are the pinnacle of long-lasting candy. Because they can be never-ending (just ask Willy Wonka), jawbreakers expose dentition to sugar for an unhealthy amount of time-giving bacteria an all-access pass to the 36 grams of sugar in each half-inch candy.

 that can take weeks, months or even years to finish.

	Sour Patch Kids candy has an impressive list of ingredients: Sugar, invert sugar, corn syrup, tartaric acid, citric acid, modified corn starch, and artificial colors and flavors.

	That’s it. That is all that’s in Sour Patch Kids.

	This obviously raises several concerns: 1) Is there any way to cram any more sugar into a piece of candy and 2) Why would you eat Sour Patch Kids when you could have THREE chocolate donuts for less sugar? That’s right, three chocolate donuts would deposit 33 grams of sugar onto your teeth – compared to the whopping 36 grams from a two-ounce bag of Sour Patch Kids.

	In addition to being essentially a spoonful of sugar formed into little people, the candy is also problematic because it is, as its name forewarns, sour. Sour candies have a higher acidic content due to the citric acid they contain, thus kick-starting the tooth enamel erosion process even quicker.

	The billionth sticky disaster on our list, Starburst has three troublesome main ingredients: Sugar, gelatin and citric acid. This dentition-destroying trifecta checks off all the boxes for problematic candies: 1) High sugar content (22 grams of sugar in nine pieces); 2) Tooth-adhering gelatin; and 3) pH-lowering acid.

	Let’s be honest: after the fantastic artificial flavors fade away, the only burst you’ll get from a Starburst is a burst of pain when your tooth starts rotting.

	This is practically 100-percent sugar. You might as well just eat white granulated sugar with a spoon (though you can’t-or at least shouldn’t try to-eat the spoon, like you can with that fun little sugar stick that comes with Fun Dip).

	Admittedly, the bright colors in Fun Dip do make it marginally more entertaining than the granulated variety, but the 13 grams you’ll ingest in one packet might as well come straight from the sugar bowl.

	Despite what the commercials may tell you, Snickers introduces a lot more problems than it solves. The only vice for chocoholics on our list, a full-size Snickers bar, packed with sticky caramel and nougat, and sugary chocolate, has 27 grams of sugar. Think a fun-size bar won’t be too terrible? Think again: the tiny version of the treat still has 8.5 grams of sugar. Add in some tooth-cracking peanuts (specially designed to pop orthodontic brackets off of teeth!) and you’re bound to run into dental problems.

	Not to mention, a single Snickers bar has 266 calories, 37 percent of which come from fat. So give your teeth-and your waistline-a break, and satisfy your hunger with something else.

All nutritional information in this article was taken from the manufacturers' websites.

'Tis the season of candy, candy and more candy-much to dental professionals' dismay. Here are the worst-of-the-worst treats for dental health.

8 Candies that Make Dental Professionals Scream

8 candies that make dental professionals scream

	There are things that happen in the dental industry that would make The Walking Dead seem like a walk in the park. There are stories that could make Stranger Things look like normal, everyday life.

	And we know some of these spooky, cringe-worthy things have happened to you! With Halloween right around the corner, we want to hear your tales of the scariest, weirdest, grossest, most bizarre things you’ve seen during your dental career. What’s the craziest story that’s come out of your workplace? The disgusting thing that still makes your shiver when you think about it? The most disturbing moment in your career? We want to hear them all.

Check out last years top 13 scariest dental horror stories here.

	The top stories will be featured in a spooky upcoming article on dentalproductsreport.com. All responses are completely anonymous, so go ahead and break out those embarrassing anecdotes!

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/ScaryDentalStories

With Halloween right around the corner, we want to hear your tales of the scariest, weirdest, grossest, most bizarre things you’ve have seen in the dental industry. What’s the craziest story that’s come out of your workplace? The disgusting thing that still makes your shiver when you think about it? The most absurd moment in your career? We want to hear it all.

What's YOUR scariest dental story?

 between increased mercury levels in blood and dental fillings. High levels of mercury can be toxic, and can cause brain, heart, lung and immune system issues, among other concerns. While mercury exposure from amalgam fillings (which are made up of mercury, tin, silver and other metals) has been a concern in the past, no conclusive research had been performed.

	"This study is trying to provide the most accurate levels of exposure, which will form the scientific basis to make future risk assessment," 

Related reading: New dental fillings could actually REPAIR tooth decay

	The researchers studied data from over 14,000 patients to examine associations between amalgam restorations and several types of mercury, including blood total mercury, inorganic mercury and methyl mercury. The presence of amalgam fillings was found to increase mercury levels in patient’s blood, with the levels increasing in correlation to the number of fillings. Patients with more than eight fillings presented with approximately 150 percent more mercury in their blood. In particular, methyl mercury (the most toxic form of mercury) was found to cause damage even at low levels.

	“As toxicologists, we know that mercury is poison, but it all depends on the dose. So, if you have one dental filling, maybe it’s OK. But if you have more than eight dental filings, the potential risk for adverse effect is higher,” Yu said.

	According to a dental health survey conducted in the United Kingdom, 90 percent of adults and two-thirds of young adults ages 16-24 in the UK has at least one filling. On average, adults had seven fillings, with 84 percent of all filled teeth restored with dental amalgam, which has been the go-to material for restorations for more than 150 years. Across the ocean in the United States, the average American has three dental fillings, with a quarter of the population having 11 or more fillings.

Trending article: 9 of the scariest medical conditions with links to oral health

	With so many individuals with multiple fillings, finding an alternative to traditional amalgam fillings has become increasingly important. 

 may have found just that, with the development of bioactive glass composite fillings.  The new composites help repair tooth decay through the release of fluoride, calcium and phosphate; components that are all key to the formation of tooth mineral. While amalgam fillings are made up of inert materials, the bioactive glass actually replenishes these minerals that were lost due to tooth decay. Additionally, the bioactive glass can prevent oral bacteria from infiltrating the tooth further, by filling in the gaps with tooth mineral.

	“There is huge pressure to eliminate mercury based amalgam fillings by 2020, which is outlined in a host of international agreements,” says 

.  “Using this type of bioactive glass composite to fill cavities eliminates the need to use mercury-based amalgam by offering esthetic white fillings which help heal the tooth."

Associations of blood mercry, inorganic mercury, methyl mercury and bishenol A with dental surgace restorations in the U.S. population, NHANES 2003-2004 and 2010-2012

," will be published in the December issue of 

Extended mercury exposure can be particularly dangerous to a one’s health-and a new study has found that the danger is greatly exacerbated in patients with eight or more dental fillings.