Prevention of a heart attack, tooth loss, stroke or even diabetes with a toothbrush? You may be asking yourself, is this really possible? The world is a large place and culture can influence how the community prioritizes their family’s oral or systemic health care visits. Compared to years ago medicine is continuously changing to improve how physicians and the healthcare community treat patients. Poor home care and lack of professional dental cleaning can lead to tooth decay in addition to gum disease, also referred to as periodontal disease, if preventative dental care isn’t made a top priority in everyday life. It is important to teach the world about preventative dental care in order to stop reoccurring emergency visits, associated medical conditions, pain or even significant costs spent on healthcare.
When children are born, those children seek guidance from the parents who brought the child into this world. Those same parents are often unaware of the importance of preventative care for themselves so they fail to pass on proper oral hygiene instruction to the next generation. Condon and Roberts wrote about a small study that was performed to understand a parent’s view of preventative dental care and how it influenced the care that their children received from infancy age to toddler age. Some parents report lacking guidance from dental professionals in regards to when is the best time for a child’s first visit while others report enforcing daily hygiene at home in attempt to form long-term positive oral hygiene habits. Some parents didn’t think any additional treatment or recommendations from a dental professional were necessary, they had already implemented a daily hygiene routine. All in all, it is important for children to receive proper hygiene instruction from a young age and parent’s need better direction from physicians of when to initiate professional preventative dental care to children (Condon and Roberts 32-35). With this in mind, lack of direction to parents will only hinder the child in the long run by starting an early career as a dental patient. This could possibly result in a negative attitude towards “the dental office.” Also fears of a parent can translate to children, giving them a negative idea of what happens when a dental visit is required.
Having said that, preventative dental care additions such as fluoride toothpaste, fluorinated water, and dental sealants can help “boost” homecare efforts to ensure families stay cavity free. Lamster wrote “[t]he changes that have occurred in the field over the past 50 years, and particularly in the past 20 years, have been transformative. Fluoridation of the water supply has been identified as one of the top-10 public health initiatives of the 20th century and has resulted in a 30% to 50% reduction in dental caries” (qtd. in Burt, 195-200) Moreover, sealants are a cost-effective safeguard to prevent tooth decay in growing children. A child’s dentition transforms from deciduous teeth to permanent teeth. First molars erupt around six years of age; these teeth are in the oral cavity longer than any other adult tooth in a lifetime due to the series in which permanent teeth erupt from the gum tissue. Hence the need to protect these teeth and others that are typically more susceptible to develop carious lesions or cavities on the chewing surface. The writers of Vital Signs: Dental Sealant Use and Untreated Tooth Decay among U.S. School Aged Children argue, “Two years after placement, dental sealants prevent >80% of cavities in the permanent molars, in which nine in 10 cavities occur. Most children, however, do not have dental sealants, especially children from low- income families. These children are twice as likely as higher-income children to have untreated tooth decay” (Griffin et al. 1141-1145) All things considered, preventative dental sealants and fluoride can be something for parents sit and to chew on for a while, pun intended.
In my dental field experience, I’ve found that most people don’t truly enjoy going to the dentist unless the patient has a healthy mouth which wouldn’t ever require any attention from the dentist and the drill. Routine preventative treatments such as professional dental cleanings from a young age can help prevent pain, periodontal disease or tooth loss. Diane Wayne reports that “Prevention, early recognition, and treatment of periodontal disease are crucial to avoid the sequelae of inflammation and infection that lead to tooth loss. Local therapy to remove bacterial plaque and mineralized plaque or calculus includes regular dental visits, daily brushing and flossing of teeth, and the use of topical antibacterial rinses and mouthwashes that may help to prevent plaque accumulation” (Wayne,925). Some patients are familiar with periodontal disease and some have never heard of it or worse confuse the disease as an STD. Periodontal disease is un curable but can be maintained with professional help. Unfortunately, most patients that I meet have early to advanced stages of periodontal disease thus leading patients into pain or financial suffering trying to save the teeth that have been neglected due to poor routine care or good oral hygiene habits.
The world’s population has tons of cultural differences and some of those cultures don’t agree or understand why preventative dental care is important. In my experience patients from Asian, European and Canadian decent don’t seem to care much about their teeth. Can we chalk it up to the culture or is it that the public is just uneducated about the subject? It is unfortunate that countries with advanced technology don’t prioritize healthcare as much as they could. In Tibet, China oral health surveys and questionnaires were completed from high school age students about their dental history and knowledge of the subject in attempt to understand oral health care standards. The conclusion of the study is that, “Tibetan students had higher prevalence of dental diseases and lower awareness of oral health needs. The main reasons were geographical environment, dietary habit, students’ attitude to oral health, and lack of oral health promotion and education. Oral health education and local dentists training should be strengthened to get effective prevention of dental diseases” (Hou, 17). In other countries the situation is similar, professionals are not advising patients properly which is resulting in higher dental disease. Dental students learn how to diagnose, treat and advise patients on how to prevent disease but somehow in the daily practice these oral physicians aren’t performing as taught. My grandmother moved to The United States as a young adult, in her home country of Germany, dental care was not a top priority when you are the eldest of 5 children. She has always worn a full upper denture after losing her teeth to periodontal disease at a young age. Unfortunately, dental care hasn’t been made a priority in many cultures, however knowledge of oral care can continue to change the planets way of thinking.
Blood supply circulates throughout an entire body which can allow bacteria to travel from one area of the body to another. In the article It’s more than the mouth: The effects of Periodontal Disease on Systemic Health explains how oral health has been linked to different systemic diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, and pregnancy complications. Periodontal disease hasn’t been proven to be the only contributing factor in all systemic disease but untreated inflammatory conditions can lead to bigger systemic problems. For example, we do know that controlling diabetes and periodontal health can “go both ways.” That means if a person can control their diabetes then that same person may have better control over their periodontal condition and having control over periodontal condition can help control diabetes. Patients with diabetes have a higher risk of losing teeth due to periodontal conditions (Campbell, 26-8, 30-1). Overall quality of life can suffer if oral health and systemic health aren’t treated properly in unison rather than individually.
Throughout this research journey, journals and documents all seem to be pointing towards the same direction. An ounce of prevention can mean a pound of cure for those who can acquire a preventative minded outlook on health. A toothbrush may not cure all health problems; however different researchers have noted the oral health direct link on more than one occasion to systemic health. Isn’t that enough to accept the saying from Orbit gum advertisement, “Dirty mouth? Clean it up!” Teaching peers how to prevent pain, mental anguish or financial burdens by seeing a dentist regularly in addition to proper at home routines can benefit mankind. Quality of life can suffer without a healthy solid foundation for your teeth or strong enough teeth to chew with. No two people on earth are the exact same but with preventative care, the world can share a common trait and live a longer healthier life cohesively.