ORAL AWARENESS IN CORPORATE EMPLOYEES - The Truth Behind Neglect

This a second article of the series oral care & awareness for corporate employees. We did a short survey consisting of 05 questionnaire during our corporate check ups. The questions were straightforward and almost more then 90 % of employees complied. The questions asked were as follows:

1. How often do you visit your dentist
2. Have you ever taken dental treatment in past
3. How many time do you brush
4. Are you aware of preventive dental treatment
5. What according to you is a big deterrent for dental treatment amongst :

a. Fear b. Cost c. lack of time d. lack of awareness

All the questions were compulsory and required simple yes /no, or a sentence. The response obtained were eye opener and jaw dropping. The findings were

• Almost only 20 % of the employees had previously visited dentist. The main reason for visit was Tooth pain.Very few visited for regular check ups
• Almost 95 % of the employees said that They brush only once and were also not aware of any best technique available for brushing.
• None of the participant said that they were aware of preventive dental treatment. None of them also used adjunct oral hygiene aids like dental floss, water flosser and inter-dental brushes. However, most of them used commercially available mouth washes but were unaware that alcohol based mouth washes can cause oral cancer when used for long term.
• Most of the employees were confused regarding the type of tooth brush and tooth paste one must use for daily brushing. Media commercials, friends recommendations, family preferences to herbal products were the main reason behind using a particular type of tooth paste. They were also not aware about the benefits of using fluoride containing tooth pastes.
• For most of the participants, lack of oral awareness was the key reason , followed by fear of dental treatment , cost and time for seeking dental care.

CONCLUSION :

The above survey clearly points to lack of oral care education and awareness in our entire ecosystem of home, school, colleges, offices, and health care system. Though the number of dentists in recent times have increased and Indian dental Association is working wonderfully to spread dental awareness but whatever is being done is less as this needs to be equally pushed by the healthcare and education system. There is a need to create a balanced and significant importance to oral care including awareness , education and treatment at all levels including the educated masses of our society working in the corporate.

AUTHOR - Dr. Sharad Gupta   # www.drsharadgupta.in   #www.identityplus.in