Teaching Oral Disease Prevention- Juniper Publishers
JUNIPER PUBLISHERS-OPEN ACCESS JOURNAL OF DENTISTRY & ORAL HEALTH
Teaching Oral Disease Prevention- Juniper Publishers
Authored by Garth D Pettit
Abstract
The purpose of this study was for the author to
gather information to fulfill a mission: “Prevent Oral Diseases in
Children”. In mid-1996 five years after retiring from a lifetime in
general dental practices in Australia then in England then back in
Australia the author returned to general dental practice because his
second granddaughter, aged 3 years, had been diagnosed with mild tooth
decay in an upper front deciduous tooth. That is why and when his
mission began. He became the District Dental Officer for East Arnhem
Land in The Northern Territory of Australia in January 1997. He was
delighted with this appointment because working with schools, parents,
teachers, children and adults he would be in contact with people he
considered important for him to fulfill his mission: “Prevent Oral
Diseases in Children”. He was advised by his superiors that there was no
funding available for research but he had their permission to research
for his project “Prevent Oral Diseases in Children”. His project soon
became choosing between the 3,500 year-old “Brush Your Teeth”
instruction and his new oral hygiene instruction “Paint Your Mouth”. The
author chose the submission title Paint Your Mouth versus Brush Your
Teeth.
Keywords: GC: G-cem Resin
Cement; Mpa: Mega Pascals; N: Newton; FRC: Fiber-Reinforced Composite;
SARCs: Self-Adhesive Resin Cements; IPN: Semi-Interpenetrating Polymer
Network; PMMA: Polymethyl Methacrelate
Prelude
My now 20 year-long mission to “Prevent Oral Diseases
in Children” was recently rewarded when worldwide marketing Who’s Who
announced me as a “Professional of The Year 2015-2016”, qualifying me
for inclusion in The Worldwide Who’s Who Registry of Executives,
Professionals and Entrepreneurs 2015-2016 Edition. [1]
“Brush Your Teeth” Trail, Year 1,500 BC
Your teeth cle aning instruction, had you lived
between 1,500 BC and 1498, would have been “Clean Your Teeth with a Chew
Stick”. That instruction addressed cleaning stains on teeth. Other
means of cleaning stains on teeth were to clean your teeth with fingers
and grit or sand. Even clean your teeth with lumps of charcoal!The Chew
Stick even now in the 21st Century remains popular in many
countries. Chew Sticks are easily made by breaking a twig from a tree,
plucking the foliage away and chewing one end until it frayed. The
frayed end cleaned the stains from enamel surfaces and also the other
end was used as a tooth pick. The sap from some trees was also believed
to be also beneficial.
“Brush Your Teeth” Trail, Year 1498 AD
The sugar trade era that began in the middle of the 15th
Century caused enamel of teeth to actually decay, not just to be
stained. But this occurred only on rich people’s teeth. Why? Because
poor people could not afford to buy sugar or sugary things. In 1498 a
Chinese Emperor was granted a Patent for a tooth brush. He had observed
the frayed end of a Chew Stick and said to himself “What if the frayed
ends at the end were at right angle to the handle instead of being in
line with the handle?”. His handles were either bone or bamboo. The
bristles were taken from the back of a Siberian Hog’s neck. The bristles
were cemented a right angle to the handle. The Emperor’s tooth brush is
what is used in most countries in the world today except that plastic
has replaced handles of bone and nylon has replaced animal bristles.
The next notable mouth cleaning invention was by “Dr
Julien Botot, a Frenchman. Dr Botot who, in 1755, is credited with
inventing the first toothpaste. That was followed in the same year with
his invention of the first Mouth Wash. He invented both these for his
very special patient, King Louis XV of France.
From the middle of the 20th Century a
countless number of new products have been created to assist the
promotion of healthier mouths. Tooth brushes have been constantly
improved and also so have tooth pastes been improved.
But what is most notable is that the dental profession still advises patients to “Brush Your Teeth”! Today is 24th
April 2016. The instruction “Brush Your Teeth” began in 1,500 BC. That
is a total of 35 Centuries plus 16 years for what is now regarded
as an extremely important health instruction for everyone to
maintain good oral health and to prevent many common, related,
general health problems.
Dentists, dental therapists and dental hygienists give hygiene
instructions to their patients verbally, usually with the aid of
mouth models and a demonstration tooth brush. Patients are
advised and shown how to “Brush Your Teeth” with a tooth brush
and tooth paste.
Parents at home also similarly instruct their children to
“Brush Your Teeth” with a tooth brush and with toothpaste,
repeating the same instructions they receive from their dentists,
or therapists or hygienists.
But “Brush Your Teeth” is not an ORAL hygiene instruction
it is more accurately described as and is a tooth cleaning
instruction. It does not take into account that every time
food or drinks are put into a mouth, then chewed, all seven
surfaces inside of a mouth become dirty and are covered
with unhealthy plaque containing millions of undesirable
bacteria. Over teeth, gums, tongue, roof, floor, cheeks and
lips!
“Brush Your Teeth” is well passed its’ use-by-date! [2]
Materials and Methods
Paint Your Mouth” Challenge, Year 2002 AD
My Mission:“Prevent Oral Diseases in Children”: In 1996, 5
years after retiring from dental practice, my granddaughter was
diagnosed with mild tooth decay in an upper front tooth. I was
angry with myself and decided I would return to dental practice
with this mission: Prevent Oral Diseases in Children. My intention
was to become an author of children’s books that their parents
and, hopefully, teachers and schools would use to give children
an oral health education.
I found employment as the District Dental Officer, East
Arnhem Land, Northern Territory, Australia. This was ideal for
my mission because I would be working closely with teachers,
schools, parents and children. In 2001 my first ten books were
almost ready for printing but were put on hold when, for the
third consecutive year the DMFT results for the 6-7 years-old
classroom at the remote Alyangula Aboriginal School showed
the same pleasing results. No new decay and a lot of arrested
decay [3].
I subsequently subjected the instruction ‘Brush Your Teeth’
to a Strength, Weakness, Opportunity, Threat (SWOT) Analysis.
This SWOT analysis revealed ‘Brush Your Teeth’ was merely a
tooth cleaning instruction and had been since 1498. Although
in recent times dentists have added instructions to also ‘brush
your gums’ and ‘brush your tongues’ it clearly indicated that in
this the 21st Century, we needed an “oral hygiene instruction”,
a whole-of-the-mouth hygiene instruction. My new OHI became
titled “Treat Your Mouth.”
In January 2002 I self-published my first set of 10 soft cover
printed books titled “MouthWise Oral HealthCare Manuals.
Manual 2, Visits 1 to GarGarThe Dentist” to “Visit 10 to GarGar
The Dentist”. They were based on my oral hygiene instruction
“Treat Your Mouth”. In 2007, when I was then working as N.T,
Government dentist in Katherine I simply changed the name to
“Treat Your Whole Mouth” to emphasise “Whole”. But one year
later, early in 2008, I asked a classroom of children ‘would you
like me to show you how to ‘Paint Your Mouth’? The children’s
spontaneous, enthusiastic response was deafening! Prove it
yourself, ask any child ‘would you like me to show you how to
‘Paint Your Mouth’ and watch their response. I also found adults
showed similar ecstatic responses to “Paint Your Mouth”.
In late July 2008 my wife became seriously ill, I had to resign
immediately and return permanently back to Adelaide.
Later in 2008 I added two more books to precede the initial
ten books, thus had 12 books in the series. They were published
as eBooks to enjoy the many benefits of eBooks including,
cheapness, making changes to titles and contents and the ability
to download graphics. The latter make my eBooks entertaining,
interactive and educational with readers, especially children.
They can download numerous graphics and keep them in a “My
GarGarThe Dentist Activity Album”.
Results
Teaching Oral Disease Prevention
This quotation from” My Letter to The Editor, British Dental
Journal” published Oct.9 2015, aptly describes my eBooks listed
below [4].
“Inspired by many years of observation and results from this
concept I have produced a series of eBooks for not only children
but also adults. These are designed to be educating, entertaining
and interactive. Special needs and vulnerable children would
also greatly benefit from this simple yet cost-effective approach.”
My eBooks have each been professionally 5 Star reviewed by
Diane Donovan, Senior eBook Reviewer, Midwest Book Reviews.
Teaching Oral Disease Prevention 1 through 12 has also been
5 Star reviewed by Foreword Reviews’ reviewer Cindy Wolfe
Boynton.
Discussion
Research for my mission “Prevent Oral Diseases in Children”
can more accurately described as observing, querying and testing,
nothing more was possible. Working with one dental nurse in
makeshift dental rooms within remote Health Clinics throughout
East Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory of Australia plus
the high demand for treatment coming from adults mainly and
from some children made formal research impossible. Dental
therapists looked after the needs of most children.
Decayed, missing and filled teeth were recorded for each
patient at their first visit
All relevant patients were given oral hygiene instructions,
both adults and children and checked on their subsequent visits.
Patients who attended for regular or irregular examination
appointments almost always remarked on how much better their
mouths had felt and rarely did I have to chart another decayed
tooth or a gingival problem for them.
Conclusion
The dental hygiene instruction “Brush Your Teeth”, in this the
21st Century, is not an oral hygiene instruction, it’sevana poor
dental hygiene instruction. It does not clean all mouth surfaces
thus leaves pockets of bacteria laden plaque.
The oral hygiene instruction “Paint Your Mouth” is the
preferred and complete oral hygiene instruction. It recommends
using a mouth brush and mouth paste containing fluoride to
remove unhealthy plaque from all seven mouth surfaces: teeth,
gums including gingivae, tongue, roof, floor, cheeks and lips.
Then recommends to thoroughly rinse the mouth with water.
Finally, to paint all seven surfaces again with brush and paste but
this time NOT rinsing with water.
“Paint Your Mouth” leaves a mouth with all seven mouth
surfaces covered with healthy, mouth paste ingredients and a
greatly reduced number of bacteria in plaque. Certainly a mouth
will not only feel fresher for longer and also be protected from
all common oral diseases. Personally I paint my mouth 3 times
each day after main meal. I also repeat the final step after inbetween
drinks or snacks. But twice each day, even once each
day is preferable to “Brush Your Teeth”.
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