Dentists to take Larger Role in Patients’ Health
A regular dental appointment at your local dentist’s practice generally involves a check-up on your dental health in order to find any possible cavities or gum diseases, and may include further appointments if it is decided you have a problem and need additional work to be done. But now dentists are being urged to take a more formal interest in the overall health of their patients.
Most dentists have a genuine concern for the general health of their patients, as any good professional in the health sector should, but a new scheme will allow dentists to give patients (specifically those aged between 16 and 25) information on a healthy diet as well as tests for STDs such as Chlamydia. This scheme is now being used by many dental practices across the country, to allow dentists to have a more formal role in the all round health of their patients.
This has been brought about after it became apparent that people (especially younger members of society) are in the dark over their health and things that could be affecting it, certainly for such diseases as diabetes, with it recently being discovered that over 80,000 people in Great Britain have the disease, without even knowing it.
As such, many dental practices are now setting up diabetes testing centres, similar to the free charity screenings that you may have seen set up temporarily in your local town or city centres.
This new push for an increase in a dentist’s role in the health of their patients has been welcomed as a sensible and logical move by many working within the oral health sector and is something that many dentists take the time to do informally anyway, because of the range of checks for more serious bodily health worries that can be done through oral and dental exams.
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It is important to check first the medical history of the patient. They should have a medical certificate from their doctor before we treat them. Our patients is our biggest responsibility.
Diet councelling should be taken into consideration for any patient in dental practicing putting into consideration his age, needs and dental health condition