Guest editorial: Focal infection revisited-the dentist as physician.

Author: Newman HN.

Source: Journal of Dental Research

Year: 1992

Comment:

Abstract / Excerpt:

While not as attention-grabbing as some of the infections ofour time, we appear to be in danger ourselves of forgetting that the mouth constitutes a major portal of entry for a wide range of micro-organisms, whether inherently oral commensals or direct pathogens, the effects of which may be merely troublesome, as with the common oral infectious diseases, or more serious. There is an analogy with oral neoplasia which, though it may be as prevalent as cervical cancer, does not attract anything like the attention ofthe latter. One wonders why. Ever since the original concept of focal infection led to an excess of extractions over 70 years ago, the theory has been in relative disrepute. And yet to ignore focal infection is to refuse to recognize an abundant literature, all of medical significance.

Citation: Newman HN. Guest editorial: Focal infection revisited-the dentist as physician. Journal of Dental Research. 1992;71:1854-.