Have you ever had those times when you stay up late at night and fall asleep without brushing your teeth? Or perhaps you just don't do it because you're feeling a bit lazy? Have you skipped your dentist appointment to go hang out with your friends instead? Well, I hate to break it to you but you probably have periodontal disease.
Periodontal diseases are classified as diseases involving the periodontium, the supportive structure of the tooth including the gingival tissue, alveolar bone, cementum, and periodontal ligament (Gasner, 2022). Prevention of periodontal disease is the main reason for your semiannual visits to the dentist. Nearly 90% of the population has some type of periodontal disease, most commonly, gingivitis (Gasner, 2022). Gingivitis can progress to periodontitis which can result in the destruction of the periodontium, leading to bone loss and potentially the loss of the entire affected tooth (Gasner, 2022).
The progression of periodontal disease occurs in four steps:
1) Initial lesion: Buildup of plaque results in vascular changes and intercellular gap formation, increasing gingival crevicular fluids (Gasner, 2022).
2) Early lesion: Degradation of marginal connective tissue matrix by infiltration of B lymphocytes in response to fluid buildup and plaque (Gasner, 2022).
3) Established lesion: Changes to the junctional epithelium and sulcular epithelium lead to the pocket epithelium, which is extremely vulnerable (Gasner, 2022).
4) Advanced lesion: Transition to periodontitis by the migration of biofilm into the vulnerable pocket, allowing anaerobic bacteria to proliferate, leading to irreversible bacterial attachment and bone loss (Gasner, 2022).
Overall takeaway: BRUSH YOUR TEETH! (& visit your dentist as much as you can)
Lack of access to dental healthcare is a widespread problem. Most people lack insurance or simply do not know the importance of seeing a dental professional if there is not a visible issue. Periodontal disease happens below the surface, and while your teeth may look nice and shiny from the outside, they could be rotting away below the gum line. This lack of knowledge and access brings up an ethical issue as healthcare in general should be more accessible to everyone. A lack of justice or fairness to individuals is prevalent as there is a lack of fair distribution of dental care.
Gasner NS, Schure RS. Periodontal Disease. [Updated 2022 Aug 16]. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2022 Jan-. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK554590/
Very interesting post Arielle! I hate going to the dentist, but the past week I had to force myself to go for cleaning. I didn't know that a large population of people in the US have some kind of periodontal disease. You bring up a good point about the importance of having access to dental healthcare which makes me wonder if dental phobia has an effect on an individual's dental health for those who have access to insurance and good healthcare. I found a paper that says that dental anxiety is correlated with poor oral health and patients can have problems chewing. Younger people had more fear due to environmental factors. Those who had only primary school education and those with postgraduate educations had the most fear of going to the dentist (Yildirim, 2016).
ReplyDeleteYildirim T. T. (2016). Evaluating the Relationship of Dental Fear with Dental Health Status and Awareness. Journal of clinical and diagnostic research : JCDR, 10(7), ZC105–ZC109. https://doi.org/10.7860/JCDR/2016/19303.8214