A recent article posted to the Musculoskeletal Network, written by Anne Grete Semb MD, PhD, reviews some facts related to carotid plaques and rheumatoid arthritis. While this is topic is not of specific interest to dentists, one of the five things that it is suggested ‘to know” (Semb AG, Rollefstad S, Provan SA et al. Carotid Plaque Characteristics and Disease Activity in Rheumatoid Arthritis. J Rheumatol (2013) 40:4-10) relates to the relative risk of atherosclerotic plaques in RA patients. Why this is important to dentists is that jaw and TMJ pain can be caused by carotid inflammation associated with these plaques and this pain may be misdiagnosed as of dental origin.
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