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Spotlight on Health
Illustrations by Tjaša Žurga Žabkar
From online resources and treatment options to specialty clinics and unique approaches, staying up-to-date on what the city has to offer can ensure you know where to turn to optimize your health. Here, we explore just two local organizations that are creating innovative ways to stay well.
Calgary is home to a variety of medical professionals who have dedicated their careers to maintaining a healthy and thriving population across disciplines, all while helping to innovate approaches to physical and mental well-being.
Staying informed on where to look among the consistently growing field of Calgary pros who specialize in ailments from your toes (podiatrists) to the top of your head (trichologists) and everything in between can help ensure you know where to turn when you need a hand with your health.
Here, we shine the spotlight on just two of the specialized disciplines that are making a difference in our overall well-being.
Supporting the Foundations: A Closer Look at Periodontics
For many of us, one of the greatest fears we harbour when it comes to our physical appearance is losing our teeth. But we don’t tend to realize just how important our teeth really are to our overall well-being until we’re actually faced with losing them.
Devoted to maintaining and restoring the health and function of the structures that support teeth — specifically jawbones and gums — periodontists are often the last line of defense in helping patients keep their teeth, and not end up in dentures.
Periodontists represent a niche group of dental specialists who have undergone additional university education and accreditation to manage and treat complex periodontal and dental implant cases and complications.
The services offered by periodontists are varied. They range from treating inflammatory periodontal disease through surgical and non-surgical means, treating gum recession, rebuilding lost jaw bone with bone grafting, and replacing missing or failing teeth with dental implants. The goal of periodontists is to help patients maintain healthy and strong foundations around their teeth and dental implants for life.
As treatment largely comes as a result of complexities encountered by other dental practitioners, a periodontist’s work is collaborative. Periodontists work closely with general practitioners as part of a team to manage overall patient dental needs, and with other dental specialists as consultants in managing and treating complex treatments.
While periodontal treatment largely takes place within the mouth, it can also benefit a patient’s overall health — researchers have identified important links between periodontal disease and conditions such as heart disease, diabetes, dementia, Alzheimer’s disease, infection of prosthetic joints, pregnancy complications, rheumatoid arthritis, osteoporosis and certain types of cancers.
As periodontists see it, the mouth is a portal of entry into the human body, and, for the sake of a patient’s overall well-being, it’s vital we do everything we can to keep that gate healthy and strong!
Ask your dentist for a referral to a periodontist, or visit ab.greatgums.ca to learn more.
Accessible Online Support and Resources: Discover the Learning Disabilities & ADHD Network Website
For years, the Learning Disabilities (LD) Stakeholders Group — which is a gathering of professional individuals and organizations within the Calgary area — has collaborated to provide support, conduct research and share experiences for families and individuals with LDs and Attention- Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). In 2021, the group launched the LD & ADHD Network website, funded by an anonymous endowment through the Calgary Foundation and operated through Foothills Academy, to extend its reach and make support more accessible within Calgary.
Carola Tiltmann, the manager of the Network, hopes to see the website become a “one-stopshop” for children, teens and adults living with LDs or ADHD. She also hopes to see the website raise more awareness of these challenges overall.
“A lot of people are unaware of the actual prevalence of LDs and ADHD,” says Tiltmann. “It is nearly one in five, and that’s huge.” Understanding how to get support is a key focus of the website. “It’s important that people have a reliable place to go where they can be informed and learn how to succeed,” says Tiltmann. The website includes resources for identifying, and managing LDs and ADHD at school, home, work and in different social settings. For example, there’s a master list of useful assistive technologies for notetaking, organization and more. For adults, the site includes additional resources offered by the government, like advocacy support.
Tiltmann says that the time right after diagnosis can be the most challenging for people. They can feel overwhelmed by all of the options, decisions and first steps. While the website is designed to be easy to navigate, Tiltmann is always available for one-on-one support.
Moving forward, Tiltmann plans to expand the website with regular blog posts, first-hand insight into research and resources for educators and employers.
This content was produced in partnership with the advertiser by RedPoint Media for commercial purposes.