Alexander Lew
March 25, 2013
For my community health trends
assignment, I spoke to Dr. May Tang, a dentist I shadowed last summer in my
home town of Hong Kong. Dr. Tang is a
general dentist with an office in the middle of the city, and has patients from
a wide spectrum of ethnic and economic backgrounds.
1)
The first trend that I discussed with Dr. Tang
was that very few of her patients regularly flossed. In fact, she said that typically the only
patients that flossed daily were individuals who had previously undergone
extensive dental work due to lack of flossing.
When inquiring as to why her patients didn’t floss, Dr. Tang said that
most people claimed that it was too much of an inconvenience and hassle or that
they forget. Dr. Tang stressed the
importance of flossing, and how it helps remove plaque from underneath and
between teeth. Individuals who neglect
to floss often develop dental on the lateral sides of their teeth.
2)
Another trend that Dr. Tang mentioned was the
relationship between her patients that smoked, and rates of tooth loss. She explained that of her patients that were
heavy smokers had noticeably higher rates of tooth loss compared to non smokers.
The tooth loss attributed to smoking was due to the patient’s development of
periodontal disease. Dr. Tang
hypothesized that it was the nicotine in cigarettes that causes the development
of periodontal disease. She did say that smoking did not have a noticeable
effect on tooth loss due to caries, but exclusively periodontal disease.
3)
The next trend I discussed with Dr. Tang was
concerning the oral health of heavy drinkers and drug abusers. Dr. Tang observed that her patients who drink
heavily and take drugs typically have more missing teeth, and more fillings.
These patients had higher than average rates of oral disease as well. Dr. Tang claimed that there was not a
noticeable difference in oral health between individuals who just consumed
alcoholic beverages with those that took drugs in addition to alcohol
consumption. She also noted that her older patients had more severe problems
due to more years of poor oral health.
4)
A fourth trend I discussed with Dr. Tang was the
relationship between soda consumption and dental erosion. Dr. Tang noticed that her patients that drank
a lot of soda often had some degree of dental erosion. Most of her patients
that admitted to drinking a lot of soda were young children and teenagers. Dr. Tang said that dental erosion can be
sometimes easily mistaken for dental caries. She explained that the
consequences of misdiagnosis could be harmful because it misdirects the
planning of treatment.
5)
The last trend I discussed with Dr. Tang was
concerning the oral health of her more affluent patients. She observed that her patients of higher
socio-economic status typically took better care of their teeth and had better
oral health. She noted that these
patients also had more cosmetic dental work done. She also found that her patients that were
willing to pay for more expensive procedures were more likely to retain good
oral health. Conversely, patients that
routinely went with the cheapest options often had continual oral health
issues.
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