National Oral Health Month - Revolutionising dental care through wellness integration

Dr Marguerite Breed, image shot at Trust Dentistry, Cape Town

#trustdentistryagain

There’s a familiar story we hear again and again. Someone avoids the dentist for years, until pain finally forces them into the chair. By then, the experience feels overwhelming, stressful, and costly. It’s a cycle most of us know too well. We understand this because we’ve heard it countless times. And we believe this story can change. This September, as South Africa observes National Oral Health Month, we invite you to join us in this story. A story where dentistry feels good, does good, and helps you live well.

Oral health is more than teeth

Mills, Berlin, and Levin (2023) discuss improving patient well-being as a broader perspective in dentistry in the International Dental Journal, the official journal of the FDI World Dental Federation. They argue that oral health is tied to one’s quality of life, affecting oral function, overall health, self-perception, social acceptance, and social interaction.

The story we are writing at Trust Dentistry shifts the narrative from dentistry feeling like something you have to get through to something that could add value to your life. We achieve this not just through advanced technology or beautiful spaces, but through a deeper commitment to people, purpose, and well-being that extends far beyond the chair.

For example, dental diseases such as dental caries can cause pain, impaired chewing, reduced appetite, sleep disturbances, and reduced daily performance.

They can also lead to edentulism, impacting speech and facial shape, which affects one’s psychological well-being and confidence during social interactions, self-perception, stress levels, feelings of depression, isolation, and frustration.

A holistic, wellness-focused approach

A comprehensive oral health assessment should include tracking habits and life changes or challenges. Some of these include pregnancy, nail-biting, bruxism, smoking, alcohol intake, sleep apnea, diet, and psychological conditions.

By conducting broader consultations, these lifestyle aspects can be monitored, allowing for referrals to other health professionals and thereby improving patient well-being. This interprofessional communication is essential because there is often an overlap in the condition itself. For example, bruxism can result from stress, indicating a deeper psychological problem. An intraoral device, such as a night guard, can prevent tooth injury and the consequences of bruxism, but it would not solve the fundamental problem.

Trust Dentistry aims to incorporate these aspects: our dental professionals will assist with managing general health, ensuring continuity of care, and promoting increased social, psychological, and mental well-being. These aspects are intertwined and will enable dental professionals to treat the whole individual, thereby improving patient well-being.

Dentistry impacts numerous aspects of life, from the way we eat and speak to the way we feel about ourselves in a room full of people.

We are opening our doors soon in Cape Town, and we have created a space where oral health is central to overall wellbeing; a space to #trustdentistryagain.

Mills A, Berlin-Broner Y, Levin L. Improving Patient Well-Being as a Broader Perspective in Dentistry. Int Dent J. 2023 Dec;73(6):785-792. doi: 10.1016/j.identj.2023.05.005. Epub 2023 Jun 19. PMID: 37344242; PMCID: PMC10658438