The role of regular dental examinations in the prevention of dental diseases

Abstract

Ethic and Prophylactic Aspects of Regular Dental Examinations and Treatment in Young Patients. The number of gingivitis and periodontitis in young patients highly increased in recent decades. That is why, revelation and early treatment of periodontal diseases is important not only clinical but also ethical and psychological problem. Patient should feel himself not like a passive object in the treatment but take an active part in the process.. Being acquainted with the treatment plan, presumable duration of the treatment and its' results, helps the patient to feel more comfortable and positive about the treatment procedures. Kaywords: dental diseases, gingivitis, periodontitis, young patients. Introduction. Annual prophylactic dental examinations in young patients are important task in the general medical health control system. They help to reveal not only diseases of teeth but also periodontal diseases. It is also an important ethical problem to persuade young persons how important is to control the condition of oral health. In the Department of Therapeutic Dentistry of National Medical University in Lviv we practice preventive annual checkups of the condition of students' oral health. Each person has to understand the direct influence of bad hygiene of oral cavity and general health. Problems with teeth and the periodontium especially proved to be one of the reasons not only of bad state of health but also of the low level of the persons' self-confidence. Underestimating the importance of explanation to the population the fundamentals of general health care and oral health in particular, medical practitioners would not be successful in prophylactic work. Diseases of the periodontium are widely spread in modern society. The number of gingivitis and periodontitis in young patients highly increased in recent decades. That is why, revelation and early treatment of periodontal diseases is important clinical as well as the ethic problem [5, p. 658-665]. Treatment of periodontal diseases in the initial and early stages prevents teeth loss in middle and older ages [3, p. 1-4; 6, p. 59-64]. Periodontal diseases are characterized by inflammatory and dystrophic-inflammatory processes in tooth surrounding tissues and the bone, which can be easily diagnosed in clinical observation. Important clinical problem, however, is diagnosing of persistent but not clinically pronounced inflammation in periodontal tissues. In many cases the situation is complicated by the absence of complaints from the patients, who are not aware of their problems and apply for the medical consultation only after noticing that their teeth start to be movable. That is why the task of each dentist noticing periodontal problems in his patient is to persuade him to start treatment immediately or consult the periodontal specialist. In the majority of clinical cases periodontal problems are connected with general health problems. A periodontologist is often the first medical specialist who can not only recommend but assure the patient to conduct examinations ...