Home Care Makes Better Health Care

Facts

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50% of people consider the smile the first thing they notice.

80% of people are not happy with their smile

A 2008 British Study showed that 14% of the population do not brush at all.

Various studies show that only between 2 and 12% of people floss regularly and effectively.

They say go to the dentist twice a year to check on and maintain your dental health. If you do that and nothing else you could have dentures at a young age.

While going to the dentist is extremely important, even more important is what people do at home. The very minimum for home care is brushing at least twice a day and flossing at least once a day. There are also a whole other variety of things at our disposal that help make this even easier.

With all of the things at our disposal there is no reason we should not be able to reduce the number of teeth people use. More and more things are introduced all of the time to help the average person accomplish keeping their teeth for as long as they want. Below are a list of things the average person can do to help keep their teeth a lifetime.

• Make sure you give your dentist all of the information they need. In today's world many people are on numerous medications. Many medications have numerous side effects that affect your teeth. These include dry mouth and swelling of your gums. Make sure you tell your dentist everything so they can give you all of the tools necessary to help you lessen the oral effects of your medications
• Brush your teeth at least twice a day. Each of these times should take at least two minutes. Use short gentle strokes, make sure you hit the hard to reach spots in the back, make sure you get your gumline and make sure you brush your tongue
• Floss at least once a day. My dad used to have a sign in the office that said "Only floss the teeth you want to keep". This is very true. It is also not easy to floss. Make sure you are using a long enough piece of floss (at least 18 inches), make sure you hit all surfaces when going between the teeth, do not saw as you can irritate your gums.
• Listen to your dental care professional

There are numerous other things your dental care professional can suggest that will help you on your home hygiene quest. These include but are not limited to water irrigation systems, Soft-Picks, numerous rinses and dry mouth products.

Listen to what your dental professional suggests and you are headed in the right direction.

Yours in Better Dental Health

Paul

Giving Back and Why

Yesterday our office had the chance to give back to our community. Almost our entire office donated their time to help those that were less fortunate. We donated our time, materials and expertise.

Of the 30 patients scheduled 27 showed up. We did 16 cleanings, 1 extraction, 75 sealants, 25 fillings and numerous x-rays. We were able to complete all treatment on the children that showed up to be treated in our office.

We were lucky enough to have a State Representative show up. I think the most important points of the day came from our visit with this State Representative who really cared. She asked how can 10% of those people scheduled for free dental care (and the patients that didn't show up needed fillings to get healthy). I didn't have an answer for that one because it continues to amaze me. When I was on our state Title 19 program there were three things that really hindered my participation. They paid only about 35 cents on the dollar (and expenses are closer to 70 cents on the dollar), there was a 40% no show rate (this is for free care!!!!!) and the tremendous amount of paperwork. It's a broken system set up by the government but they want us to figure out how to make it work.

The second question that was asked that was pertinent was how could so many young people have this much decay and other problems such as gum issues. That one I was able to answer a little better. Part of the answer is mentioned above, they can't get treatment in a broken system. The other part of the answer is education. These children need to be educated by their parents and the schools and hopefully when they visit the dentist as to proper home hygiene and the perils of junk food and junk drinks like soda and other sugared drinks.

We had one young man come in carrying a bag that contained 2 Mountain Dews, 2 fruit roll ups and a bag of licorice. We asked him why he was carrying it. He said that was his lunch! We went out and talked to mom and she said "oh, that's not good for him". Hopefully the 7 fillings we place and 5 sealants we placed will help somewhat. We went over home hygiene with him as well as the perils of junk food and drinks but unless that education takes place in the home and schools as well we were just wasting our breath.

Everyone on my team was great. We learned some great lessons. It's important to give back because we are lucky and in a position to do so. The "Why" is because the governmental system that those less fortunate rely on is broken beyond belief and at the same time the home unit and school unit need to spend more time educating and watching what these children are doing!

Yours in better dental health,

Paul