Oral diseases are legit the next silent epidemic affecting more people than we can imagine.
FDI, World dental federation states that, globally, oral health diseases affect more than 3.9 million people. This impacts almost half the global population (around 44%) lacking appropriate dentist treatments. It’s the most prevalent disease amongst 291 conditions included in the Global Burden of Disease study.
This indicates that 60-90% of school children and nearly 100% of adults have oral health issues which often lead to pain and discomfort.
A survey carried out by Statista, states that only 19% of the entire population in India visit the dentist twice yearly.
Oral Health diseases are entirely preventable and treatable by dental treatments. The lack of awareness and negligence amongst people is the biggest reason for the extensive spread of the disease, even in 2020.
The majority of people think that dental treatments are expensive. This also keeps them from making it to their appointments. Read below on how to save money for future dental treatments.
Why should you visit the dentist for dental treatments?
‘Our mouth is the window to the entire body.’ Our oral hygiene indicates the quality of our general health. It serves as the point of access for micro-organisms to enter the bloodstream and circulate throughout our entire body.
- Studies show that oral diseases have a direct link to stroke. The harmful bacteria in the mouth increase susceptibility to blood clots, thereby increasing the chance of getting a stroke.
- The presence of plaque in the mouth causes greater problems than halitosis (bad breath). due to inhalation and outspread to the lungs, it can cause and trigger pneumonia and bronchitis.
- The increased inflammation commonly associated with gum problems are directly linked with heart conditions. Study reveals that people with oral infections were 30% likelier to suffer from a heart attack than the people without infections.
- The onset of problems like dental decay validates dietary problems which gradually progress to bigger problems like obesity and cardiovascular problems.
The oral cavity serves as a sentinel of the entire body. Serves as the alarm system by highlighting the threats of the body. Dentists are the guards watching the signals from these sentinels to inform you about the impending body attack.
Why should you seek early dental treatment?
Our teeth do not have the ability to self-repair like most other parts. Every tooth in the oral cavity serves a great role ‘individually’ and greater purpose ‘together’.
For adequate chewing and biting efficiency, we need (from the center to the last tooth)
- Incisors to bite
- Canine to tear
- Molars to chew
They work synergically for efficiently chewing our food. Just like we’re unable to walk with one leg, similarly, eating with missing teeth can be difficult and cause many problems.
People are mostly unaware of the onset of these problems. Hence they usually visit the dentist at the later stages which requires complicated treatment modality.
Thereby this complicated treatment implies bigger holes in the patient’s pockets. Oral Health problems are completely preventable and treatable with appropriate timely interventions.
Who should visit the dentists more often?
Visiting the dentists for regular cleaning and checkups is advised for the masses conventionally. These problems although, according to dentists can arise due to multifactorial reasons. Consequentially, a few groups of people have a greater predisposition to oral health issues.
These majorly include a few categories with risk factors:
- Smokers – Along with all the general harmful effects of tobacco consumption, it’s seriously detrimental to the oral cavity also. Tobacco predisposes the oral cavity to a wide variety of problems from stains to precancerous and cancerous lesions. This due to the weakening of the immune system which makes it harder to fight off the infection in the mouth. Dentists also educate people more about white and red lesions in the mouth.
- Pregnancy – Due to the insane upheaval of hormones in the female body, pregnancy accounts for increasing the likelihood of oral health diseases up to three times. This is due to the high level of estrogen and progesterone which causes an exaggerated response of plaque present in the mouth.
- Diabetics – Uncontrolled diabetes weakens the body’s line of defense system against the majority of infections. Although diabetes is a morbid general health issue, it manifests in the oral cavity as prolonged periodontitis, gingivitis, candidiasis, pyroglossia and many more,
- Immunologically compromised patients – Any sort of infection gets an exaggerated response by the body.
How to reduce dental treatment costs?
People generally assume that if they brush twice daily they do not need to visit the dentist.
More importantly, people assume that if there’s no pain, there isn’t any need for dental treatment.
Waiting for the onset of pain before going to the dentist is literally one of the worst things you can do for your dental health.
Tooth decay is usually ignored by patients. It gradually progresses to infect the pulp inside. This increases the pain for the patients significantly. By converting simple restorations to root canal treatments we increase the treatment cost up to three times.
When the tooth decay rages extensively, surgery for removing the tooth involves more pain and more money. Every natural tooth can never be replaced in its full glory. Treatment for gums and teeth is enormously cheaper than placing implants for missing teeth.
Dental diseases only progress in nature, hence detection and treatment should be ideally started at the earliest.
Undoubtedly the only way to opt for cheaper dental treatments is to regularly visit the dentist. Visiting your dentist twice yearly for regular checkups is twice less expensive than actually paying for the disease.
All successful people have great oral health common along with great overall health. When it comes to tackling any problem, it’s imperative to always know that
‘Prevention is always better than cure’
