Providing Dental Care for Adults with Mental Health Disorders: Can Increased Interaction with Therapists Help?

An interesting article titled “Providing oral care for adults with mental health disorders: Dental professionals’ perceptions and experiences in Perth, Western Australia” written by Clair Scrine, Angela Durey, and Linda Slack-Smith, appears in Community Dentistry and Oral Epidemiology (pp. 1–7, 2018). The article sought out to explore dental professionals’ perceptions and experiences of providing oral health care for adults with mild to moderate mental health disorders in Perth, Western Australia. The article suggests that people with mental health disorders have poorer oral health outcomes and are even less likely to receive dental care. In Australia those with several mental health disorders are more likely to have decayed, missing or filled teeth than the general population. It is believed that access to care and affordability in Australia limit those with mental health disorders from receiving dental care. Most of the dental care (~85%) in Australia is through the private sector. The authors … Read more

Will Dental School Debt Lead to Future Counseling?

Future dentists these days are being subjected to large amount of loans that are necessary as a part of dental school. This topic has been covered a bit before on this site, see for example http://blog.teethremoval.com/medical-school-student-costs-in-the-u-s-are-affecting-mental-health/ and http://blog.teethremoval.com/medical-students-are-at-risk-for-suicide/. This topic has also been recently discussed on the American Dental Association (ADA) Viewpoint and Letters to the Editor. In an April 18, 2016, letter titled “Dental student loan debt” Dr. Sparkman from Texas said If most dental students today are borrowing over $200,000 to get out of dental school then I have part of the solution in three words. Get a job. Dr. LeMert a 2009 dental school graduate from the state of Washington took issue with this position and found Dr. Sparkman’s position laughable.  He said in a May 16, 2016 letter titled “Dental school reality” Dental school itself was a 60 hour/week … Read more

Top Benefits of Therapy

Everyone faces challenges and adversity in their lives that can result in stress. For many people a coping mechanism may be to talk to friends and family members or exercise to get endorphins flowing. Everyone can benefit by getting extra support and talking with a professional. It has been shown that talking about your feelings can have a therapeutic effect on the brain. Therefore, getting your thoughts out in the open can help improve your health. For all parties involved with wisdom teeth removal there a lot of challenges one may face. Those considering the surgery may suffer from dental phobia and have a strong fear of the dentist which prevents them from getting the dental treatment they need. They may have a fear of pain or a previous negative experience that is contributing. Others who have gone through with … Read more

Medical Students Are At Risk For Suicide

Medical students have the difficult task of learning through science and rigorous academic training to take care of others. Med students can suffer from many ailments including anxiety, stress or migraines or even worse. Being a doctor of any kind is quite simply about learning to make other people feel better, and it’s possible to heal your patient that’s the goal. Unfortunately, there are times when a patient doesn’t make it and that can feel devastating to a med student who is undergoing training, such as a resident. You are just learning and have a sense of optimism about the field. You want to help people, genuinely and seeing your patient die is a tragedy and can leave you feeling depressed. According to The American Medical Student Association, med students are three times as likely to die by suicide than … Read more

Graduated College Students Having a Tough Time

I have previously discussed how college students today who graduate are having a tough time. See for example the post Medical School Student Costs in the U.S. are Affecting Mental Health,the post College Conspiracy and United States Hyperinflation, the post Astroturfing And How Your Thoughts Are Being Manipulated by Corporate Interests, and the post Let’s Give our Kids a Chance to Succeed. Below is a nice infographic that helps to describe the problem in more detail. Created by: Collegeathome.com