Susan Maples with OralDNA® 

why join the american academy for oral systemic health?

Susan Maples, DDS with OralDNA® 

The length of my dental career has been shadowed by the declining health of our population.

With great sadness, I have witnessed my patients arriving with new lists of lifestyle-related diagnoses and an assortment of medications, prescribed as “band-aids” for those ailments. In congruence, the ever-increasing prevalence of oral disease (caries, periodontitis, oropharyngeal cancer, and occlusal disease) has not surprised me. As a dedicated friend to my declining patients, I started to look for better ways to identify and treat these complexities—from a root cause perspective.

I started calling it Total Health Dentistry.

On my quest for a root cause, I discovered a jewel—The American Academy for Oral Systemic Health (AAOSH). This then small but amazing group of dentists and hygienists banded together around shared values, burning curiosity, and a determination to transform our profession was something I knew I needed to be part of. AAOSH was founded in the emerging science that links periodontal disease to a litany of threatening systemic conditions such as Coronary Artery Disease. Since then, scientific evidence has flourished, along with “our” academy. Current evidence supports the mouth-body connections with diseases such as airway disorders, diabetes, obesity, metabolic syndrome, acid reflux, chronic systemic inflammation from food sensitivities, fungal infections, HPV, depression and so much more!

In my opinion, our patients’ weakened host-immune responses are largely a result of the most common disfunctions in our culture: a defective, sugared-up food supply, oxygen/sleep deprivation, and a sedentary lifestyle. When your patient visits us for their preventive appointments, they bring us all the telltale signs…in their mouths. Once you “see” them you can no longer “un-see” them. AAOSH has helped my entire team and me illuminate these signs, get to the root cause, and transform our treatment options. Moreover, the like-valued friendships and collaborative relationships we have made within AAOSH have been life-changing.

Beyond helping your patients, becoming a Total Health Dental practice and following the AAOSH principles will help your business:

• Attract health-valuing patients from a wide sweep around your practice location.
• Earn the trust you need to earn the right to do significant restorative dentistry.
• Collaborate with other health professionals and build a remarkable network of co-referral relationships.
• Explore new technologies such as OralDNA® salivary diagnostics.
• Add value to your hygienists’ role and hygiene profitability through adjunctive testing.
• Through development of this sought-after niche of practice, you’ll get the golden keys to insurance independence, if that is something you seek.

Interested in learning more? Join The American Academy for Oral Systemic Health for Collaboration Cures 2022 in Phoenix, AZ. Sign up for updates and more information here.

Collaboration Cures 2022 is a collaborative meeting bringing together speakers, research, and practitioners from all health fields to hear the latest in oral systemic health, myofunctional therapy, nutrition, physical therapy, and more.

For more information on the mouth-body connection and dental medical collaboration and how it can help your practice and patients check out our blog "2021 How the Oral-Systemic Link is Changing Lives and Practices"

Bio
Dr. Susan Maples leads a successful, total health, insurance-independent dental practice in Holt, Michigan. She brings preventive and restorative dental expertise, a passion for mouth-body total health, a master’s degree in business/marketing, and 30+ years of experience in private practice. She is the creator and founder of Total Health Academy, a complete online solution for dental teams to integrate all aspects of Total Health Dentistry, author of BlabberMouth! 77 Secrets Only Your Mouth Can Tell You To Live a Healthier, Happier, Sexier Life, developer of the Hands-On Learning Lab™ and SelfScreen.net. Susan currently serves on the Governing Board of the American Academy of Oral Systemic Health (AAOSH).