Mobile Dentistry and Its Applications
Studies conducted over the past few years indicate
that there exists a great need for dental treatments and preventive dental care
in various under-served communities across the globe. Access to oral care is one
of the biggest issues our world faces today. Geographic inaccessibility, poor
dentist to patient ratio and dwindling financial resources are few of the most
common barriers to effective oral care.This lack of effective oral care has given rise to
mobile dentistry. Over the past few years, mobile dentistry has sparked a lot
of discussion across several developing countries.
What is mobile dentistry?
The existing dental care is delivered predominantly
by private dentists, most of whom reside in urban localities and operate on a
charge for service basis. Sadly, such private providers have failed to
contribute to the promotion of dental care in the general population, most of
which constitutes of rural citizens, slum dwellers, and school children.
Mobile dentistry is a simply an alternate mode of
providing effective dental to the majority of the population. It can be used to
eliminate the existing discrepancies in the traditional system of dental care
delivery by laying greater emphasis on the destitute population. Mobile dental
clinics are ideal for both rural and urban communities and are an excellent
solution to deliver oral care to the masses.
Mentioned below are some of the benefits of mobile
dental clinics:
- Educating various communities regarding oral care
- Reaching the unreachable communities
- Conducting screenings for various oral diseases
- Rendering preventive and curative oral service to masses
- Quality consultation and treatment without taking the patients out of their comfort zone
- Excellent care during emergencies
- Handy for isolated areas
Another thing to note is that while a lot of
countries are opening up to the concept of mobile dentistry and are providing
this service to a major chunk of people, the utilization is generally poor.
There is a dire need to aware the masses of the usefulness of mobile dentistry.
Apart from educating the masses, there are a few
other tactics which can drastically improve the effectiveness of such healthcare programs:
- Improving the dentist to patient ratio
- Increasing the currently offered dental treatments
- Publicizing such oral health care initiatives
- Conducting researches to determine the areas with maximum requirement
- Giving more time to individual patients
While there are a few disadvantages attached to the
concept of mobile dentistry, the benefits easily surpass the drawbacks. One of
the best advantages is that it lets us overcome the cultural and physical
barriers attached to dental care. The principal drawback is its
cost-effectiveness. For such initiatives, financial considerations are a major
hindrance. That said, a collaboration between different sectors can easily beat
this potential barrier.
Taking everything mentioned above into
consideration, mobile dentistry should be explored as a potential solution to
alleviate the dwindling dental care system in countries lacking an organized
dental program.
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Article Source: EzineArticles
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