Alan B. Carr, D.M.D.

Alan B. Carr, D.M.D., is interested in oral health-systemic health interactions. This embodies an understanding of how an individual Mayo Clinic patient's oral health-related findings may impact overall disease prevention and management.

Focus areas

Given that Mayo Clinic is the optimum environment to creatively seek tangible oral health ramifications for medical outcomes, Dr. Carr and his colleagues seek to identify the burden associated with oral infections and inflammatory conditions on:

• Various chronic diseases, such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes and respiratory disease
• Preterm low-weight births
• Surgical outcomes in general

Significance to patient care

Given the prevalence and costs associated with chronic disease management, any improvement in outcome(s) created by addressing oral disease prevention and early management in specific patient groups could be significant.