Health

Why is Dentistry the most neglected sector in the health industry?

Published

2 years ago

March 29, 2023

Somehow there was never any stress out of any individual to have clean, white, healthy teeth. Dentistrywas always consideredto be an elective branch rather than a very important branch.It’s been 12 years into my practise,and I still struggle to emphasise on the importance of getting an Annualcheck up done at a Dental clinic. We face this issue Pan India, one of the most common reasons being Expenses. It is deemed a Dental visit will cost them a lot. But unfortunately this is a very big misunderstanding, and education to change this should be carriedout right from the school level. Our mouth is the most contaminated area, and mere brushing 2 times a day isn’t everything we can do for it. The teeth structures are associated with a number of underlyingstructures, and to keep them healthy it’s always better to visit a Dentist once a year. Even though a lot of alarming problemscan be curbed with mere Dental visits, it’s not encouraged by the medical practitioners. We say right from the day you get your first teeth (approx 6 months of age), you should know how to treat and keep these pearly whites healthy. Another reason for being the neglected sector is the Scare. But with the advances, its another challenge which has been taken care off by. The procedures which took more than 3 visits previously can be takencare off very easily in a single day. Whenearlier extractions and swelling for days used to be the criteria, not merely treatingthe infection and saving the teeth is practised all over. A lot of patients still prefer to seek a less expensiveprocedure rather than saving their teeth, as the importance of teeth has never been taught/ explainedat any level.

Dentistry is only viewed as somethingwhich is supposed to be kept clean with a Brush and Paste. Finances, scare, not knowingthe depth knowledgeand time is the most common reasonsfor neglect of Dentistry. A patient visits a Dentist always with a complaintand never for a Follow up or general check up appointment. With a complaintin hand, the treatment costs tend to increase compared to just a procedurewhich could have been done with minimal costs in case therewas a regular follow up. Lastly, thereis no insurance coverage for Dental needs.This creates anotherturmoil in the patients mind and having liquid cash to spend at all times vs ignoring Dental health.. you can imagine what takes the win. Dr Cherry to encouragepatients to visit their Dentist regularly, makes sure all her registeredpatients are remindedof their annual checkup dates by means of a call or message and these visits are included in the consulting fees paid at the 1st visit.