Poor dental health and poverty are related. Stronger teeth can lead to a better life | Opinion
Four miles Emma had walked to the clinic. At 19 years old, recently homeless, and seeking relief for a painfully infected tooth, she stood before us. While our limited free clinic offered only tooth extraction as a solution, she declined. Emma couldn’t bear the thought of losing more teeth. It was a pivotal moment that made me realize we could and should do better to preserve patients’ natural teeth.
The correlation between poor dental health and poverty cannot be overlooked. Just last year, this “neglected epidemic” saw nearly 69 million U.S. adults without dental insurance, according to a survey by the nonprofit CareQuest Institute for Oral Health. Many individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds struggle to acquire dental services and retain their natural teeth because of financial constraints, lack of insurance and insufficient availability of affordable care. According to a study by the Journal of the American Medical Association, low-income adults are twice as likely to have tooth decay, tooth loss and gum disease.
Advocates say that people without coverage often delay seeking care, causing minor infections to escalate into life-threatening situations. Furthermore, inability to access dental care perpetuates poverty, as tooth decay and tooth loss can lead to chronic pain, missed work and diminished job prospects. Approximately 30% of low-income adults nationwide and nearly 60% of Medicaid beneficiaries lacking dental access believe that the appearance of their mouth and missing teeth has hindered their ability to interview for a job.
Addressing these barriers is essential for improving overall public health and ensuring that everyone can maintain good oral hygiene and preserve their natural teeth. And since May is the official “Save Your Tooth” month, there’s no better time to highlight the importance of dental care and preserving one’s natural teeth.
With the advancements in modern endodontics, patients now have a range of treatment options available to them to save their natural teeth. Whenever possible, preserving your natural teeth rather than opting for extraction is the preferred choice. Imagine removing a book from a tightly packed shelf, causing the surrounding books to shift. A similar phenomenon occurs with teeth. The remaining teeth will gradually shift into the empty space, resulting in an improper bite and crooked teeth. Patients may also experience difficulties in speech, chewing and swallowing. Often, patients will overuse other teeth to compensate for the missing tooth, increasing the likelihood of additional dental problems.
Fast forward four years from my encounter with Emma, and much has changed. I am no longer a dental student but now an endodontist. I recently returned to Kansas to establish my own practice in Prairie Village, with a mission to improve dental care and make it more accessible in the community where I grew up. As I envision the high-quality dental care I aspire to provide to my patients at my practice, I often reflect on the day I watched Emma leave the free health clinic with a smile after I personally performed her root canal. That moment was incredibly gratifying, and it is a feeling I hope to experience every day throughout my career dedicated to saving people’s teeth and enhancing their quality of life.
Mansoor Safder is an endodontist at his practice Elite Endodontics KC in Prairie Village, Kansas.
