A study published in the November issue of The Journal of the American Dental Association (JADA) says dentists have a 'unique opportunity' to help in the fight against heart disease, the leading cause of death in the UK. Health care utilisation patterns indicate that individuals may be more likely to see their dentist regularly than they are to see their physician, the JADA report says. 'This could place dentists in the frontline for identifying patients at risk of coronary heart disease,' says Michael Glick, D.M.D., who co-authored the study. Conducting medical history reviews and measuring patients' blood pressure are 'common practices' for today's dentists, the researchers note. Such procedures, along with simple chair-side screenings, help dentists provide proper dental care, but they also can point to underlying medical conditions and risk factors that could contribute to a heart attack. A patient found at risk would be referred to a physician for consultation and treatment. 'Our study clearly suggests that dentists can play an important role in primary prevention of cardiovascular disease,' report Drs. Glick and Greenberg in the JADA study titled, The potential role of dentists in identifying patients' risk of experiencing coronary heart disease events.