Why We Offer to Check Your Blood Pressure at Cherrybank Dental Spa

You might be surprised when your dental hygienist offers to check your blood pressure. After all, you came to have your teeth and gums looked after – so what does blood pressure have to do with dentistry?

At Cherrybank Dental Spa, we believe that looking after your mouth is part of looking after your total health.

High blood pressure is very common in Scotland. In fact, around 31% of Scottish adults – approximately 1.5 million people – are estimated to have high blood pressure, and many may not know it.

That's because high blood pressure often causes no obvious symptoms.

We were reminded of just how valuable a simple check can be recently when one of our patients, Mr S, visited our hygienist, Ailis.

Mr S felt perfectly well and was surprised when his blood pressure reading was higher than expected. We suggested that he monitor it, so he checked it again when he got home. It remained high.

He contacted his doctor, who assessed him, and he has now started medication to manage his blood pressure.

Without that simple screening check, he might have remained completely unaware that there was a problem.

Persistently high blood pressure increases the risk of serious conditions including heart attack, stroke, heart failure, kidney disease and vascular dementia.

This is why we believe the dental practice can play an important role in prevention. Many people see their dental hygienist regularly even when they feel completely well. Taking a few minutes to check blood pressure gives us another opportunity to identify something that may benefit from further investigation by your medical team.

So, if your Cherrybank hygienist offers to check your blood pressure, please don't think, “That's a bit strange – I'm at the dentist!”

It's simply another part of our Total Health approach – because we care about much more than your teeth.

Sometimes, a simple check really can make a very important difference.