Negative Outcomes of Poor Dental Hygiene

Did you know that the average American spends 38.5 days total brushing their teeth over a lifetime? By the age of seventeen 78% of Americans have had at least one cavity. When an individual does not go to the dentist it affects the results of your teeth versus if you do clean them. Dental health is caring for your mouth which includes your teeth, gums and tongue. Eating nutritious foods and avoiding smoking can help to keep your gums and mouth healthy. Brushing and flossing gets rid of plaque, which is the main cause of tooth decay and gum disease. Poor dental hygiene from a young age can cause serious health issues and lead to expensive dental procedures. Dental care from a young age is very important. When you start taking proper care of your teeth and begin getting regular dental checkups your mouth will stay healthier throughout your adolescent and adult life. This helps to prevent tooth decay and cavities in your baby teeth. Americans spend more on dental care than citizens in any other country. In the years between 1960 and 2007, the rise of the nations spending on health care climbed from around $28 billion to reaching $2.2 trillion.

According to the book Coverage and Cost it states “In 2006 the United States alone spends more money on health care than any other country with $6,714 being spent per person” this shows us just how outrageous it has become. If parents started taking care of their kids’ teeth by brushing them once the teeth formed this would be preventable. It is important that you start going to the dentist as early as possible to maintain healthy teeth at a low cost. Dental care costs are much lower for children than adults. According to the website article Dental Care Expenditures and Insurance it states “The adult population, which includes ages 19 through 64 spent an average of $54.29 per person per year on dental services. For the ages under 19 years old the average dental cost is less than it is for adults. There is a larger amount of health expenditures for adolescents and children that is around 12 percent. In the age group of 65 years and older the dental care expenditures represent about 2.5 percent of all private health care expenditures for this group”. There are more health problems for adolescents because adults tend to eat and drink more things that can harm your teeth such as bread and drink sodas that are very bad on your teeth. This is important to know if you want proper dental health so you don’t grow old and start losing teeth from decay.

There are many health problems that tooth decay effects. Poor oral health can be associated with dehydration, heart disease, and poor glycémie control. This happens by not brushing your teeth and gums which causes your gums to separate from your teeth, which then creates a little gap beneath the gum line letting bacteria in and start to hide and grow. Just from that little gap all that bacteria can then enter through your bloodstream and travel to your heart and other serious organs damaging them. Dental hygiene also affects a person’s mental health, their well being, nutritional status, speaking ability, self confidence and well being. In fact most adults or older age people have not been to the dentist in over five years. Most of the oral diseases people get is not from old age but from the side effects and medicine that they have received. With routine preventative care a lot of the oral health problems among the elders could have been avoided. For maintaining healthy teeth a toothbrush is an essential tool. There are soft nylon bristles on the head of the toothbrush that protects the tooth. The important part is the mechanical action that helps to remove the plaque. If you want to eliminate this myth and to improve oral health of teens and adults, it is important that the professionals of health care provide you with the best education and background that advocates for oral health.

The most developed evidence protocols of training that consists of the removal of bacterial plaque from teeth, cleaning the oral mucosa, and oral hydration have shown to have a huge impact on the oral health status of older patients. These protocols help the patient to realize the issues of their dental hygiene and how they should take care of their teeth so it doesn’t happen again. Oral hygiene can also affect nutritional status, ability to speak, self esteem, mental wellness, and overall well-being. For proper dental practice it is important that you identify the oral dentist aspects such as physical and sexual abuse and poor oral health as a child so that you can handle it early so you dont have severe problems as you get older. Physical abuse can be trauma orally or to the face especially in physically abused children. In some studies it says, “Oral and facial trauma occurs in about 50% of physically abused children”. Signs of physical abuse are bruising, abrasions of the lip, tongue, frenum, dental fractures, etc. Sexual abuse is usually seen in children through oral cavities but in some cases infections or oral injuries that are visible can happen as well. Dental neglect is a major source for poor oral health because it doesnt give the child a chance to get a proper cleaning and the ability to get their mouth checked for cavities.

So it is very important to go regular visits to your dentist to prevent not only cavities but also halitosis, odontogenous infections, periodontal disease, etc. When a person does not take care of their teeth, it leads to expensive dental work. In the article “The Nations Health” it says “According to the National Center for Health Statistics, 4 million children U.S. children had unmet dental needs in 2012 because their families could not afford dental care”. Most patients visit because of an oral health emergency but when they find out about the clinics affordable cost they keep coming back for more visits. According to the Oklahoma City Clinic they say “Their clinic will accept any patients of the age 8 and older, this offers them a wide range of prices that have been reduced for dental services. For example preventive cleanings range from $50 to $60 for extractions. The dentist has three dental chairs which are constantly full with patients and in demand, says Gutierrez. In the clinic there was more than 7,000 procedures and over 1,3000 patients cared for in the last year alone. A huge majority of these did not have any dental insurance and paid out of pocket”. Many people excuse for having poor dental hygiene is that they can’t afford it or don’t have the time but in reality dental clinics are very much affordable and they are willing to work around your time since it is their job to keep your teeth healthy. There are millions of Americans that are still trying to be insured or trying to gain access to affordable health care. Although the access to this is still lagging especially in cases with adults. It is important that pediatric dental coverage is an option and being offered throughout the states. These should be a part of an overall health insurance package or as a standalone plan. The exchange is different in every state none are the same. They offer a variety of plans but some only offer one or the other.

There is a limit on out of pocket dental expenses and this can eliminate the overall lifetime of coverage limits according to The Affordable Care Act. When you add integrating dental coverage for preventive care for Medicare it could pay off in terms of both ameliorating the oral health of the elderly population and inhibiting the costs of sumptuous non preventive dental care for the dentate beneficiary population. In Investing Preventive Dental Care for the Medicare Population, according to Moeller, John, Chin etc. it says that Preventive Dental care is known as the rationale for dissevering beneficiaries with dental use into those with preventive care and those without preventive care is that elective, preventive accommodations are a better proxy for placing a high priority on good oral health than are nonelective accommodations (such as fillings, crowns, and root canals). He concludes that such nonelective users may say otherwise from dental users seeking elective, preventive accommodations because they place a lower priority on oral health care and might additionally have better access to dental care than nonusers of any dental care. Our examinations appeared that recipients who utilized preventive dental care had more dental visits but less visits for costly non preventive strategies and lower dental costs than recipients who saw the dental specialist as it were for treatment of verbal issues.

In addition to Investing Preventive Dental Care for the Medicare Population, according to Moeller, John, Chin etc. it states that The health care Current Beneficiary Survey could be a continuous, useful survey of a across the country sample of aged, disabled, and institutionalized health care beneficiaries. He concluded it is sponsored by the Centers for health care & health care Services, is that the solely comprehensive supply of knowledge on the health standing, health care use,insurance coverage, and socioeconomic and demographic characteristics of the complete spectrum of health care beneficiaries. In conclusion, poor dental hygiene can lead to many health issues, expensive dental procedures and is important to focus on from a young age. It is important that people brush their teeth to prevent tooth decay and cavities. If someone does not go to the dentist it will affect the way your teeth look and develop as an adult. When an individual eats healthy it improves their overall dental health status. Brushing and flossing gets rid of plaque and keeps your teeth clean.

Works Cited

1. American Dental Association. (n.d.). Brushing your teeth. https://www.mouthhealthy.org/en/az-topics/b/brushing-your-teeth
2. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2021). Children’s oral health.
3. Dental Care Expenditures and Insurance. (2020). Statista. https://www.statista.com/topics/5949/dental-care-expenditures-and-insurance/
4. HealthyChildren.org. (2021). Brushing up on oral health: Never too early to start.
5. Levy, H. (2015). Dental neglect and children’s oral health. Virtual Mentor, 17(11), 899-903.
6. National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research. (2021). Tooth decay (caries).
7. O’Dowd, L. C. (2012). Access to dental care: Solving the problem for underserved populations. Journal of Dental Education, 76(1), 135-141.
8. Pediatric Oral Health Research & Policy Center. (2021). Why dental care is important. https://www.ohioaap.org/pohrpc/topics-2/why-dental-care-is-important/
9. Savage, J. H. (2019). Dental health and overall health: A critical interrelationship. The Journal for Nurse Practitioners, 15(8), 589-594.
10. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2021). Oral health.