Aust’s key oral health topics

The National Health Watch

DENTAL health has been in the news a lot lately with the Greens wanting to include it in Medicare and Covid affecting our oral health habits – including skipping dentist visits and essential treatments and check-ups.
In two weeks it’s Dental Health Week (Aug 1-7), the Australian Dental Association’s (ADA) annual oral health campaign aimed at improving the nation’s oral health.

Teeth bleaching, also known as tooth whitening, is the procedure of changing the color of your teeth. The amount of staining and also the level of activity of the person using the process will all affect the whitening results. – Agenciespic

 

The key oral health topics which Australia’s 17,000 dentists are seeing right now are:

  • The ADA has new data on the nation’s oral health habits (how often we visit the dentist, floss and brush and who’s whitening their teeth etc) based on a survey of 25,000 Australians, embargoed for next Wednesday.
  • The Tik Tok trend of do it yourself (DIY) dentistry – the harms it can do. E.g straightening your own teeth with rubber bands, filing the teeth with a nail file or sandpaper, mixing up at home a cocktail of Cola and apple cider vinegar to remove stains.
    The ADA warns against these dangerous and destructive techniques.
  • The huge trend for DIY whitening (one in five Australians has teeth whitened according to new ADA data) and the problems with this (e.g. swallowing bleach, burns to soft tissue in the mouth, leaving bleach on too long causing extreme pain and sensitivity, tooth discoloration, extreme pain where bleach gets into untreated decay and cracks and broken fillings,) and why it’s better to do under the supervision of a dentist in practice or at home with a kit.
  • What’s wrong with oral health for people in aged care and what needs to be done to fix it.
    The ADA is hopeful the three solutions (a seniors dental funding scheme amongst others) we advocated for prior to the recent federal election will be enforced by the Albanese government – it has already made some positive noises to us about this.
  • Vaping – a growing trend causing deaths, seizures and a range of serious health harms.
    The latest (as at Sept 2021) Australian National Drug Household Survey showed vape use has doubled in 14-17 year-olds and quadrupled in 25-29 year-olds between 2016 and 2019.
    Nearly two in three current smokers and one in five non smokers aged 18–24 reported having tried e cigarettes.
    Among those who had tried vapes or e-cigs, frequency of use also increased, with more people using them at least monthly.
    Yet it’s banned in some states and the chemicals in e-cigs have been linked to a range of cancers.
    Schools are closing bathrooms as kids as young as seven have been caught vaping at school.
    What’s being done and how does it harm mouth health?
  • How you can help the environment with your oral health routines. E.g. use a biodegradable toothbrush, turning the tap off when brushing, scheduling all the family dental appointments at the same time so you save on fuel emissions.
  • Busting oral health myths such as that you must rinse after brushing, the longer you brush the cleaner your teeth will be, charcoal toothpaste is good for teeth, what goes on in my mouth doesn’t affect the rest of my body. I can provide about 8-10 myths.
  • What to look out for in your mum or dad’s mouth if they’re an older Australian, and even more so if they’re in aged care (E.g. dry mouth aka xerostoma, periodontitis aka gum disease, gum recession, cracks or breaks in teeth, suspicious white patches), signs and how to get them resolved.
    – ADA