It’s that time of year again for Spring Training in beautiful Arizona. This is the 7th season for Robert Levine, DDS, President of Global Laser Oral Health and Clinical Director at Arizona School of Dentistry & Oral Health (ASDOH), to support the Mariners in their oral cancer screenings. This event takes place over 5 days in February and March and includes the owners, general managers, coaches, and ball players of both the Major and Minor League.
Dr. Levine, the faculty, and support staff from ASDOH will be conducting their screenings at the Mariners Baseball Complex in Peoria, Arizona. This is a great opportunity for the pre-doctoral students at ASDOH to reach out to the baseball community and support Dr. Levine and the faculty in their passion for early detection of oral cancer and correlation of smokeless tobacco products and systemic health. “Beyond its relation to tobacco, a high salivary acidity level can also be evidence of GERD or related problems, and can even impact what anti-inflammatory medications are given to players,” says Dr. Levine. “By providing a pre-training POH level reading for each player, we empower team physicians to adjust medications as necessary.” Each member of the team will have a complete examination. A variety of cancer screening lights will be used to support the examinations. HIPAA protocols will be honored. This is the first year that they will be correlating the POH levels of Saliva with smokeless tobacco products and systemic health. “Beyond its relation to tobacco, a high salivary acidity level can also be evidence of GERD or related problems, and can even impact what anti-inflammatory medications are given to players,” says Dr. Levine. “By providing a pre-training POH level reading for each player, we empower team physicians to adjust medications as necessary.”
Rick Griffin, senior trainer in MLB, and GM Jack Zduriencik have always been extremely proactive in the overall health of their baseball players. The faculty and students at Arizona School of Dentistry & Oral Health are excited about supporting their initiatives.
