ArticlePloS one2022
Physicians' awareness of oral-systemic links and its association with physician-reported patient referral to dentists.
Article in PloS one, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers.
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Who cites it
10 citing papers in PubMed, 10 citations in OpenAlex.
- Awareness and clinical practices of pulmonologists regarding the periodontal-pulmonary link: a cross-sectional study.BMC pulmonary medicine · 2026Article
- Oral health in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: are physicians prepared to integrate it into routine care?Frontiers in medicine · 2026Article
- Mapping the medical status of patients in a dental school: adapting dental curricula to demographic change - a cross-sectional study.BMC medical education · 2025Article
- Oral-Systemic Health Awareness Among Physicians and Dentists in Croatian Primary Healthcare: A Cross-Sectional Study.Epidemiologia (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Linking systemic diseases with oral health: Awareness among general physician.Bioinformation · 2025Article
- Dentists´ knowledge about common risk factors for cardiovascular diseases and periodontitis: An opportunity to be part of a multidisciplinary team.Journal of clinical and experimental dentistry · 2024Article
- Article
- Awareness of physicians and dentists in Serbia about the association between periodontitis and systemic diseases: a cross-sectional study.BMC oral health · 2023Article
- Public Awareness of the Association between Periodontal Disease and Systemic Disease.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
- Impact of an Educational Intervention on Oral Health Knowledge Among Nursing Staff Caring for Hospitalized Patients in a Brazilian Hospital: A Quasi-Experimental Study.Special care in dentistry : official publication of the American Association of Hospital Dentists, the Academy of Dentistry for the Handicapped, and the American Society for Geriatric DentistryArticle
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
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No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
introductionPhysicians promote oral health by screening for oral pathologies, providing emergency help, and referring patients to dentists. The literature consistently reports a robust association between periodontal disease and systemic diseases. However, it is not fully known if physicians in Saudi Arabia are aware of the oral-systemic disease links. Therefore, the study aimed to evaluate physicians' awareness of the oral-systemic disease links and their association with patients' referral to dentists and patients' access to oral care.
methodsThis cross-sectional study was conducted (June 2019-January 2020) on physicians working in private and public hospitals in the Eastern province of Saudi Arabia. The physicians (n = 333) responded to a paper-based self-administered and pilot-tested questionnaire which inquired about their awareness of oral-systemic disease links and patient referral to dentists. The reliability of items of oral-systemic disease links was evaluated by calculating Cronbach's alpha (0.84).
resultsMost participants (92.8%) agreed/strongly agreed that oral health is associated with systemic health. Half of the sample (50.8%) referred patients to dentists during the last month. Almost 80.5% believed that more patients will be referred to the dentists because of their awareness of the oral-systemic disease links and 84% believed that more patients will access oral care services if patients were aware of the oral-systemic disease links. The participants who referred patients to the dentists during the last month (P = 0.038), believed that more patients will be referred (P = 0.001), and believed that more patients will access oral care (P = 0.003) demonstrated significantly higher oral-systemic disease links awareness score. The adjusted model showed patients' referral to dentist (OR = 1.96.10, P = 0.006) and believing in more patients accessing oral care (OR = 2.05, P = 0.044) were associated with significantly increased awareness of the oral-systemic disease links.
conclusionMost physicians in the study were aware of the oral-systemic disease links. Increased awareness of the oral-systemic disease links was significantly associated with the referral of patients to dentists and belief in improved patients' access to oral care services.
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