Dental care

Dental care refers to the special responsibilities that go into the basic maintenance of a person’s mouth—specifically the teeth, gums, and tongue—which is critical for introducing nourishment into the body. Dental care is designed to prevent a range of oral diseases and traumas—most notably tooth decay, in which acids (produced by oral bacteria as they break down by-products of sugary and starchy foods) eat away at the tooth’s enamel and can eventually create cavities, or holes, in the interior surface of the tooth’s structure.

Overview

Dental care is the practice of maintaining the health of a person’s teeth, gums, and entire oral cavity through preventative measures such as routine dental check-ups, dental cleanings and treatments, and regular brushing and flossing, and it plays an important role in overall health. Cavities are among the most easily preventable medical problems. Dentists have long pointed out that, given their structure and their physical composition, teeth are designed to last a lifetime. With daily maintenance routines including brushing and flossing, the use of fluoride, along with some general precautions in lifestyle choices, such as limiting sugary and acidic foods and drinks, and avoiding tobacco products, it should be relatively easy to keep teeth and gums healthy. Neglecting these basic dental care procedures can lead to painful and expensive treatments to rectify damage and even loss of teeth and has been associated with broader health problems affecting overall well-being.

Background

The American Dental Association (ADA) has developed a nationwide campaign for dental care that has stressed prevention. The goal of dental care is to ensure the proper function and health of the mouth. Prevention is largely the responsibility of home care. Professional recommendations include, brushing twice a day, preferably first in the morning and before bed to help eliminate plaque, a sticky and pasty bacterial buildup that can form on teeth that are not brushed regularly. Brushing should be complete and thorough—the ADA recommends two minutes—and many toothbrushes have built-in timers to assist with brushing routines. Since the 1990s, a revolution in spinning-head electric toothbrushes has greatly increased the effectiveness of brushing, as the motion helps clean between teeth and within the irregular fissures on a tooth’s surface. In addition, flossing once a day helps clean between the teeth where brushes cannot reach, and rinsing with a fluoride mouthwash helps reduce harmful bacteria and strengthen tooth enamel.

The rest of dental-care protocols center on diet and lifestyle choices—cutting down on sugary snacks and carbonated beverages; eating a diet rich in grains, vegetables, and fruits; avoiding excessive alcohol and tobacco use; and getting sufficient calcium to maintain the tooth’s structural integrity. At the same time, with the emergence of holistic medicine and homeopathic treatments, home dental care has experienced a revolution as people reevaluate diet and its relationship to dental care. However, in an era of dental white strips and whitening toothpaste that promise dazzling cosmetic effects, the ADA has begun to caution that white teeth do not necessarily mean healthy teeth. This is due to the damage some whitening treatments can cause to the enamel of the teeth and gum irritation.

As part of regular and effective dental care, the ADA has long recommended visiting a dentist twice a year as a way to check on any problems that might escape detection and might pose more significant problems if left untreated. The dentist, using x-rays and other computer imaging technology, can diagnose a range of tooth and gum issues that can be treated by procedures that include cavity restoration with fillings; ceramic, porcelain, or alloy crowns (capping the entire top of a badly infected tooth as a way to preserve the tooth); bridges (in which artificial replacements fix gaps where teeth are missing); root canal (in which infected pulp inside the tooth is removed and the inner chamber is cleaned and sealed); and, in the most extreme cases, tooth extraction. In addition, the dentist can test for any gum disease, such as gingivitis and periodontitis and prescribe medications or give recommendations for better and more targeted brushing. The ADA recommends that the first dentist visit should occur after the appearance of a child’s first tooth.

Impact

Despite a massive public awareness campaign that, since the mid-1940s, has worked to make the public aware of the importance of dental care, the World Health Organization (WHO) found, in 2022, that nearly 3.7 billion people worldwide were affected by oral disease. In the United States alone, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that almost all adults over the age of twenty have had cavities at some time in their lives. The WHO also reported that globally, about 23 percent of individuals over the age of sixty experience complete tooth loss.

Dental care specialists typically cite three persistent problems to widespread successful dental care. Firstly, dental work is expensive, and most often insurance carriers require extra insurance packages to cover basic dental care. That layer of financial worry can keep those in the lower income ranges from pursuing regular dental care. Even with the advent of the ambitious national program geared toward providing medical insurance to the widest number of Americans (the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare), many find professional dental care a luxury rather than a necessity. Secondly, there are not enough dentists. The ADA has worked since the 1990s to address the inequity between the number of patients requiring dental care and the number of dental professionals available to provide that care. Despite developing programs for dental hygienists who are able to perform many of the routine check-up procedures for the dentist, there are geographical areas—specifically inner-city neighborhoods, small towns, and remote rural areas—where dental care is difficult to access. Finally, many people struggle with the ingrained popular notion that dental care is a stressful and anxiety-producing procedure, despite achievements in dental protocols since the 1980s that have revolutionized dental procedures and minimized patient discomfort. To many, a trip to the dentist is associated with pain, and given the choice, many defer seeking treatment until there is discomfort in the mouth.

Bibliography

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