Luxury is described as a state of great comfort or elegance, mostly involving great expense and reserved for the elites.
Dental care describes all the practice involved in maintaining healthy teeth and its supporting structures.
Maintaining your teeth isn’t only about looking good. Poor dental hygiene can lead to problems that are much bigger than an unpleasant smile. Tooth decay and gum disease can affect other parts of your body, causing heart diseases, diabetes, complications in pregnancy, chronic inflammations such as arthritis- to name a few.
Research suggests that the seemingly painless decay sites in the mouth are entry points for bacterias to enter into blood vessels thereby increasing the chances of developing terminal diseases. ~Catharine Paddock, Ph.D. on September 6, 2010.
With this knowledge we can all agree that Dental care is a necessary and essential practice.
Good oral/dental health translates to overall good health.
SO WHY IS DENTAL CARE PERCEIVED AS LUXURY?
COST
It is common for people in this part of the world to regard anything that is pricey and not urgent as unnecessary.
It’s no news that dental care is relatively pricey especially for the low level earners. This high cost of dental services in most countries is complicated by the fact that dental disease affects approximately 90% of the world’s population (according to the WHO in 2006) and there is little or no form of subsidy for treatment cost as we have for other global diseases.
The issue of cost has been the major reason why most people avoid dental appointments, but most often than not the neglect of the basic maintenance procedures will result in conditions that create a large hole in their pockets.
See our write up on DENTAL ECONOMICS for how best to approach your dental care expenses.
LACK OF DENTAL HEALTH AWARENESS
Due to cultural and low socioeconomic status, most people are not aware of what basic dental care entails. For them, maintaining good dental health is all about owning a toothbrush and an affordable toothpaste. Good oral hygiene practices such as regular checkups and professional cleaning seems like a bit too much (luxury) for them to add. This has been the driving force behind our continuous dental education initiatives in our clinics, patients’ offices and on radio.
Big thanks also to our dental team who make sure that everyone that comes through our doors is properly educated on basic oral hygiene, beyond the ‘normal’ tooth brushing or visit to the clinic as a result of toothache.
ACCESS TO STANDARD DENTAL FACILITIES
With the level of development (especially in Nigeria), standard dental facilities are only found in major cities. Little no wonder those in the undeserved communities perceive dental care as luxury reserved for the elite and are left with no choice but to make use of the information and facilities available to them.
In 2020, we invested time and resources to set up two Pop up clinics in rural communities in Kano Nigeria to help them get access to standard dental care.
Great news
In our unending craving to create value, we have launched a Dental app- MyDentalPal ( the first of its kind in this part of the world), an innovative health subscription platform that provides you access to affordable dental care, regardless of when you need it.
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Available on play-store @Mydentalpal
Or on web @www.mydentalpal.com.ng
©️The Smile Shop 2021.
Great content. Keep it up