Following a recent policy roundtable debate in Westminster, Pam Whelan discusses the future of Dental Plans and getting oral healthcare awareness higher up company agendas.
A wide range of health policy areas, government, think tanks, academia and dentistry journals have been trying to strengthen oral health messages in the wider public health agenda for many years.
This is no surprise when you take into account the increasing evidence which supports the link between poor oral healthcare and more serious illnesses including cardiovascular disease and diabetes.
A policy roundtable debate in Westminster recently to explore this area in more detail and to throw light on the future of Dental Plans in the UK. The roundtable, ‘Prevention and Early Intervention: Realising Dentistry’s potential to meet Britain’s Chronic Disease Challenge’ was designed to discuss:
- The value dentistry can add to the early intervention, prevention and public health agenda
- The advantages of an increasingly sophisticated integration of oral and general health promotion
- How dentists are innovating in early intervention and prevention and how to enhance this
- The ‘traffic light’ treatment plan in new dental strategies and broader health triggers
- Views on what more can be achieved and how practically to fulfil that goal.
The debate was chaired by Financial Times News Editor, Sarah Neville and it also included some of the most influential speakers in the field of dental care and the wider healthcare profession:
- Dr Roger Matthews – Denplan’s Chief Dental Officer
- Duncan Selbie - Public Health England
- Dr Richard Guyver – Practising Dentist
- Dr Barry Cockcroft - NHS England
- Professor Iain Chapple – Professor of Periodontology at the University of Birmingham
- Dr Charles Alessi – Chair of the National Association of Primary Care
Links to chronic disease
Research suggests that poor oral health is a strong indicator of other, often chronic, health problems in adults with significant links between inflammation of the gums and the effect this has on issues such as heart attack and stroke to name but a few.
Periodontitis (gum disease) is a significant issue that some 43% of adults suffer from in the UK and it is the most common, highly prevalent, inflammatory disease in adults. This is not only causing a significant cost to the taxpayer, but is also completely avoidable with the proper oral healthcare, signifying the importance of the role dentists can play in preventive healthcare.
Dental professionals are in a unique situation, as they see ‘healthy’ patients every single day for routine dental care and treatment. Doctors, on the other hand, will only see patients with a specific problem or illness. This gives dentists the unique ability to help encourage greater personal responsibility among individuals to manage their oral health and develop healthy behaviours that help reduce the onset of long term conditions.
