Dental health negligence is costly
Medical treatments are not expensive; negligence is!
For most people in Dubai, going to a hospital or a clinic is dreadful because of the unforeseen expenses and time that maybe lost in the recovery period. Most of the ailments would require multiple visits to ensure complete health recovery. The situation could get worse if we are not covered under the current insurance policy. This is so true when it comes to dental treatments.
However, there are ways to reduce the expenses. It’s called preventive medicine or preventive dentistry that many of us are unaware of, or just ignore. There are plenty of medical and dental health awareness educational materials on-line. Somehow, we tend to overlook them.
People, on daily basis, give less importance to their health compared to other materialistic things. We do not educate ourselves on proper tooth brushing and flossing. Moreover, we often forget to brush before bedtime. On the other hand, we constantly abuse our oral health through unhealthy foods, drinks and smoking.
Preventive dentistry focus on improving one’s oral health status through simple procedures and by educating people on proper dental hygiene. These procedures usually involve bi-annual visits to the dental clinics for dental checkups and if possible dental cleaning as well. The benefits of adhering to these routines are:
· Early detection of dental cavities and gum diseases
· Keeping a check on bad breadth
· Tooth wear and crack assessments
· Evaluation of gum lines
· Maintaining tooth color
· Evaluation of teeth alignment (especially for children)
· Assessment of Jaw joints
· Oral cancer screening
· Constant evaluation of oral hygiene care at home
These evaluations of oral health can help our patients with early diagnosis of most dental issues even before they show signs of discomfort and pain. Most of the procedures required for these early problems are short, painless and most importantly less expensive. It’s like paying for a dental insurance cover. Some of the treatments are aimed at long life of the teeth and will not require redoing for a very long period. The most common preventive dental treatments involve:
· Routine dental cleaning and polishing
· Fluoride application in high risk cavity cases
· Pit and fissure sealants to reduce the incidence of dental cavity
· Orthodontic braces to correct alignments for better care at home
These treatments are optional and the good Dentists usually educate their patients on their benefits before the procedure. Having a clean and disease free mouth is like that of a newly cleaned plate we eat food from. It will be very satisfying to enjoy your food knowing that your mouth is clean and disease free. Remember! our mouths are an entry point into the rest of our body. Keeping our mouth clean and bacteria free as much as possible can lessen the chances of most disease including heart conditions.
Dr. Salahudeen Aboobacker