[April 4th is 'Periodontal Disease Prevention Day'!] Is it too late to go to the dentist only 'after experiencing pain'? One in two people tend to overlook periodontal disease, a 'silent disease'.

SCO Group Co., Ltd. (Head office: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; Representative Director and Chairman: Yusuke Tamai; hereinafter "SCO Group") conducted an awareness survey on "periodontal disease," a "silent disease," as part of the activities of its "Oral Life Project."

Summary

1. Approximately half of the people are aware that periodontal disease is linked to systemic diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, and dementia. About 40% of the total responded with "not really clear" or "unbelievable." 2. 40% of people feel that "food gets stuck easily." This could be a small sign of periodontal disease, but most people leave it untreated. The reality that "many people go to the dentist only after feeling pain" is clear.

Details

1) The most common symptom experienced within the past year was "food getting stuck easily (40.0%)."

Periodontal disease is called a "silent disease" because it progresses in its early stages with almost no noticeable symptoms such as pain. However, periodontal disease has "small signs," and self-checks developed by the Japanese Society of Periodontology list symptoms such as "stickiness in the mouth upon waking," "bleeding," and "bad breath"*. This survey revealed that when asked about oral symptoms experienced within the past year, "food getting stuck easily" was the most common at 40.0%. As periodontal disease progresses, the gums swell and recede, which leads to symptoms such as food getting stuck easily. Not overlooking these small signs is a step towards preventing the worsening of periodontal disease.

* Japanese Society of Periodontology website (https://www.jacp.net/perio/about/)

2) Among those who experienced any symptoms within the past year, 68.8% "left the symptoms untreated."

The reason was "because there was no pain (55.5%)."