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Health professionals are expected to support oral health and encourage the patients to follow appropriate dental care. Awareness and practices related to oral-systemic disease connection was assessed among medical and dental practitioners. METHODOLOGY: A cross-sectional study on medical and dental practitioners of city Faisalabad, Pakistan was conducted. Two hundred and forty (n=240) medical and dental practitioners were approached for study, all practitioners rendering a consent were recruited in study and their response was collected on a close-ended questionnaire. RESULTS: Eighty three (n=83%) of respondents knew that a relationship exists between oral and systemic health, but application of this knowledge is limited. 59% medical practitioners were in practice to look for dental conditions in medical patients in comparison to 79% dental practitioners who look into medical conditions while examining dental patients. Medical and dental professionals with postgraduate qualification had better awareness and were applying their knowledge in daily practice. Females were better in status of awareness and practice in this study sample. CONCLUSION: Level of awareness and practice about relationship of oral-systemic disease connections was moderate among the study sample, dentists showed better awareness and practice. A need is felt to improve collaboration between dental and medical profession in order to enhance patient care.

Background: Updated information on oral health status could be used to monitor oral disease patterns, as widespread variations in oral health outcomes within and between different countries are reported. Aim: The objective was to examine the status of oral and systemic health and their association with demographic characteristics of the population attending a public dental center. Methods: A cross-sectional secondary analysis of the patients’ record was conducted during June 2017 attending the dental center of Madina Teaching hospital Faisalabad, Pakistan. Study variables were analyzed using the t test and the c2 test with a significance level of P ≤ .050. Results: The mean age of the study sample was 31.9 ± 14.5 years; 56% were females; 48% had primary or higher education; 9% were hypertensive; 5% had hepatitis; and 5% diabetes mellitus; 52% were with poor oral hygiene, 68% had dental caries, 84% had no fillings, 27% had tooth loss, and 99% functional dentition; 74% patients had calculus, 67% had gingivitis, and 5% had periodontitis. Age was the strongest risk indicator. Dental caries, tooth loss, poor oral hygiene, gingivitis, periodontitis, and tooth mobility were significantly associated with diabetes mellitus; tooth loss and tooth mobility were associated with cardiac disease; tooth loss, periodontitis, and tooth mobility were associated with hypertension, whereas tooth loss and calculus were associated with hepatitis. Higher age and lower income were positively associated with poor oral hygiene. Conclusion: Age and gender remain to be the strongest predictors for both oral and systemic conditions. Poor oral health and tooth loss showed a strong relationship with chronic systemic conditions.