The need for dental health education
| Autor: | Bruno Gebhard |
|---|---|
| Rok vydání: | 1958 |
| Předmět: |
Health Services Needs and Demand
medicine.medical_specialty business.industry Public health Dental health media_common.quotation_subject Self Dentistry Disease Special Interest Group Newspaper Nursing Feeling medicine Health Education Dental Humans Health education business Psychology Health Education Tooth General Dentistry media_common |
| Zdroj: | The Journal of the American Dental Association. 57:784-788 |
| ISSN: | 0002-8177 |
| DOI: | 10.14219/jada.archive.1958.0216 |
| Popis: | It is estimated that 19 of every 20 adults in the United States suffer from caries or from periodontal disease. Next to the common cold, caries is the most common , disease. Education of the public is neces sary to reduce their extent and to prevent their occurrence. Dental disease might well be labeled a “civilization disease,” or a man-made dis ease, in which food selection, eating hab its and drinking water are factors. It is, therefore, both preventable and curable. This makes personal dental health edu cation most important; but because the public is influenced by the self appointed, unofficial “health educators” such as newspaper, magazine, radio and televi sion advertisers (as well as the more offi cial but sometimes not so effective influ ence of school and health agencies) there is confusion and apathy about dental health, with the result that personal dental self care lags far behind profes sional progress. Fluoridation of drinking water is a case in point. A boon to public health dentistry, it must be implemented by edu cation of the public before its full bene fits can be realized; indeed, there is the danger that the public will be lulled into a feeling of false security unless they are informed of the role they must play in the prevention of dental disease. If present knowledge of how dental health can be improved were dissemi nated, the amount of present dental ills could be reduced by one third. And this could be done by prevention of disease, which must be ranked above cure of disease. Compared with other health subjects, dental health is in the lowest group in the public acceptance scale (table). One reason for public disinterest is that den tal disease presents no direct danger to life and limb. Another reason is that the pub lic is confused about dental health. Con flicting claims of special interest groups have served to confuse an already apa thetic public. This is not to condemn ad vertising per se, but it must be recognized that the views of researchers and teachers are more or less crowded out and over shadowed by those coming by print, sound and picture from Madison Avenue. Once it was chlorophyll; now it is striped toothpaste—what next? The dental profession is not blameless; it should remember that part of the pres ent confusion results from past profes sional support of slogans such as, “A Clean Tooth Never Decays.” One should remember also that scientific theories which were once quite valid have become obsolete, or at least controversial, within one generation. Theories once widely pub licized, such as the one of “focal infec tion,” hang on for a long time even within the dental profession.1 |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
| Externí odkaz: |
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