We encourage people and families to build positive relationships with their dentists by being open about any concerns and making regular appointments. Dentists tend to be burdened by a negative stigma that can cause patients to have a lot of anxiety and apprehension.
What you may not know is that Dentists are required by law to continually develop throughout their entire career in both scientific practice and in their business and interpersonal skills. As an association for Dentists, our goal is to facilitate this required learning and give our members the skills to excel technically and in the way they communicate with patients. Trusting that your dentist has your best interests at heart allows ultimately allows them to provide you with the highest level of care.
In rural areas throughout South Australia, oral health education is scarcer and access to dentists can be limited. To help keep parents in more remote areas on top of their children’s dental care, some of our members are assisting us with a colouring in competition in their local primary schools. Students will win educational dental toys and be provided with information about their local dentists so that we can bring oral health to the forefront.
ADA South Australia President, Dr Angelo Papageorgiou said that good oral health starts at an early age and should be maintained throughout adult life.
“Children should visit the dentist from the time of the eruption of their first tooth and on at least an annual basis to establish good oral health care and habits. Adults too should be having regular check-ups with their local dentist to ensure that minor and often undetected oral health issues do not turn into much worse conditions in the future.”
“It should not be acceptable to lose teeth at any age and most oral health conditions such as tooth decay and gingivitis as common as they are, are entirely preventable. This is important as good oral health has such strong correlation to good overall health and wellbeing of adults in Australia.”
If you or anyone you know are looking for a dentist, use the ‘Find A Dentist’ feature on our website to pick from over 900 dentists throughout SA. For more information about Dental Health Week and our association, visit www.adasa.asn.au.
The President of the Australian Dental Association SA Branch, Dr Angelo Papageorgiou is available for media interviews. Please contact Alessia Marrapodi via email at [email protected] for media requests.