Philosophy Aims & Prevention

Question 1

What are the 5 ways dental disease can impact the wellbeing of an individual?

Answer 1

Pain/discomfort
Reduced quality of life
Poor aesthetics
Financial costs/time/inconveinece
Professional dependence

Question 2

“Let food be thy medicine.” - -hippocrates

“The very people that aspire to be doctors to improve human health are living examples of oblivion and irony”
-Dennis Zhu

Explain what these quotes mean and how that is related to dentistry.

Answer 2

Dental disease causes significant harm, psychologically and financially to a patient so it’s within a patient’s best interest to prevent disease from occurring.

While doctors are concerned with treating diseases, the real and macro benefits come from preventing diseases. This is typically not done on the treatment level, where disease has already progressed.

Prevention in dentistry ensures that quality of life would be improved and economic burdens would be reduced.

Question 3

What are the two preventive approaches to disease prevention?

Answer 3

Sick individual approach
- Maximize benefits to individuals by identifying and caring for the at-risk groups.

Sick communities approach
- Maximize benefits for the whole community through approaches such as water fluoridation

Question 4

1) The sick communities approach in prevention yields in dramatic changes on the individual level

2) The sick individuals approach cannot produce generational change.

1 & 2 true
1&2 false
1 false 2 true
2 true 1 false

Answer 4

c) 1) is false 2) is true

Question 5

Amro distributes free toothpaste to communities in palestine. What sort of preventative approach did amro engage in?

What level of prevention did he implement?

Answer 5

Sick communities approach

Primary

Question 6

Omid travelling to Africa and doing root canals on people with infected pulp is an example of what type of prevention?

Answer 6

Tertiary prevention

Question 7

What is secondary prevention?

Answer 7

identify disease at an early stage and intervene with non-operative method (ie remin white spot lesion)

Question 8

What is tertiary prevention?

Answer 8

Prevention of loss of fucntion through operative procedures

limit disability and rehabilitation

Question 9

What is primary prevention

Answer 9

Prevent disease from initiating through health promotion and maintenance

Question 10

As dentists, what types of prevention should we aim for?

Answer 10

Primary and secondary

Question 11

What are 5 ways to prevent dental caries?

Answer 11

1. Fluoride use
2. CPP-ACP on white spot lesions
3. Pit and fissure sealants
4. Dietary changes/consulting
5. Plaque control (brushing education/fluoride toothpaste)

Question 12

What advice would you give to a patient with chronic gingivitis and periodontitis?

Answer 12

Disrupt the dental plaque frequently through brushing/flossing/mouth rinse

Question 13

You see a patient with premalignant leisions come into your clinic. You review his medical data and realize that he is an avid drinker and smoker in australia. As well, his hobbies include hiking and travelling to mynamar. What advice would you give the patient?

Answer 13

Stop using tobacco

Stop drinking excessively

Use a hat to prevent UV damage to the lip

Stop chewing betel nut

Question 14

What are ways to prevent physical damage to your oral cavity through accidents such as bike crashes?

Answer 14

Seat belts

helmets

mouthguards

Question 15

How can you prevent dental fluorosis?

Answer 15

Avoid consuming excessive fluoride during first 7 years of life

Question 16

How can you prevent dental erosion?

Answer 16

Control intrinsic and extrinsic acids such as that from soft drinks or vomit