At Get Dental Plans, one of the most important parts of our dental insurance plans is the preventative aspect. All our dental insurance plans include check-ups and hygienist visits as standard. It is proven that preventative dental care is the key to good oral health. But, another important fact is that good oral health contributes to general health. For our company dental insurance plans this is an important component of employee wellness.
So, we were extremely interested in this article from Dentistry from Dr Davinder Raju of Dove Holistic Dental Care, talking about how preventative dentistry is the foundation of sustainable dentistry, so important in every aspect of our daily lives.
Dr Raju points out that every time a patient comes into the surgery for dental treatment that uses up resources, even more so post-Covid.
‘We use materials, energy and single-use plastic devices during every appointment. The gold standard of care is prevention, where patients don’t need any treatment. When disease is present, it’s about early detection and diagnosis because we can manage the patient and disease without surgical intervention.
‘The moment we go in with a drill, we create a cavity. As soon as we put in a material, it is never going to be as effective as the material created by biology, and ultimately the filling will fail.'
‘This necessitates additional treatment, which requires additional resources. Furthermore, the amount of dentine left that separates the filling from the pulp is critical (the thinner the dentine, the more likely that your patient will have pulp-related problems), with each treatment becoming increasingly significant.’
‘As soon as a filling is placed in a tooth, it reduces the structural integrity of the tooth, and it is likely tooth decay will form around the filling, and the filling may fail.
‘The patient then requires a bigger filling, requiring more resources, while reducing the thickness between the filling and the nerve, and so the cycle carries on.
‘Eventually, the nerve dies, or the tooth fractures significantly, necessitating root canal treatment and crowns, and when these fail, ultimately an extraction and possible replacement with an implant or denture.
Davinder has identified a new AI technology called AssistDent, which supports the ethos of reducing the environment impact of dental care. AssistDent is an Artificial Intelligence (AI)-driven diagnostic tool which, on top of its scope to improve dental diagnoses, can help dental professionals build a more profitable practice by demonstrating the need for preventive oral hygiene regimes to patients.
AssistDent when used at dental check ups can identify much smaller lesions of teeth that can be rectified without the need for dental intervention, such as x-rays and fillings.
‘From a sustainability perspective, we use fewer resources, which aligns closely with my ethos of protecting the environment. The patient is also relieved not to need a more intense treatment. We would both prefer not to have to put a filling in!’
If you would like to find out why dental insurance plans can contribute to your employee wellness plans, please contact us today to talk about our company dental insurance plans.
Article correct at time of publication 11.10.22.
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