Learning Objectives: 

• Reimagine the future of clinical roles and patient care in dentistry in light of rising chronic diseases 
• Expose roguish virulence factors belonging to oral pathogens 
• Describe what a healthy oral commensal community looks like and which bacteria belong to them 
• Investigate how nitric oxide can promote oral-systemic health and combat oral- systemic diseases 
• Develop a clinical playbook on the application of nitric oxide in the dental operatory 

For Centuries, dentistry has struggled to convince medicine that we belong in whole-body care-- until now. The oral microbiome has been keeping secrets. A powerful systemic molecule, nitric oxide (NO), has been linked to virtually every day-to-day systemic process, but we lose the ability to produce it as we age. Healthy commensal oral communities have recently been indentified as a backup system to support NO generation. 

Remarkably, enhancing these healthy communities not only aids in NO production and thus beneficial systemic outcomes, but we are also learning how they support our battle against oral diseases. Using the Wizard of Oz theme, we'll deconstruct the science surrounding NO and get to know the healthy commensal communities that have inspired emerging concepts in products and treatment. 

We finally have the rub slippers for our journey toward systemic health. Dentistry is the missing piece in medicine's battle with chronic diseases.