You will be hard pressed to find any culture in the world that discourages white, strong teeth. White teeth are a sign of beauty and at the same time are a sign of good health. That is why a whole industry on teeth whiteners has been created to fill this vacuum.

Though some teeth whiteners do work for some people even for a long time, there are still some simple things that we can do in order to keep our teeth fresh, healthy and white.

1. Follow good oral hygiene practices.

It seems obvious but you should brush your teeth at least twice daily and floss at least once daily to remove plaque. You can use regular toothpaste and probably use whitening toothpaste (once or twice a week only) to remove surface stains and prevent yellowing.

2. Use a straw

Avoid direct contact with your teeth with products that can stain your teeth. These include fizzy drinks and beverages. Consider using a straw in order to bypass contact with the front teeth.

3. Brush and Rinse

If you have consumed any drinks or food that can cause stains in your teeth, you should rinse or brush your teeth immediately. Coffee, tea and cola are major culprits and taking a few seconds off your schedule to rinse your teeth will go a long way to keeping them white.

4. Quit Smoking

Smoking has no health benefits and is very harmful to your health. It is also a major cause of stains in your teeth. Smoking can not only cause yellowing of your teeth but also cause gum disease, and even cancer of the mouth. If you want white teeth, then you should quit smoking.

5. Be careful Swimming

Swimming regularly in pool water can cause stains. The chemicals used to clean pools can lead to a condition known as swimmers’ calculus that leaves brown stains on teeth. That build-up is tartar.

6. Avoid biting your Nails
Habitual nail chewers can damage their teeth. If you have weakened enamel, you end up with an exposed, dented, soft area in the center of the tooth. And that’s when the problem occurs. The denting is much softer than the enamel and if exposed to bad habits such as chewing nails, opening beer bottles, it will wear down. Often the middle part dissolves quicker than the outside and the brittle enamel is very prone to chipping, making the teeth look uneven and unattractive.

Lastly, do not avoid that yearly visit to your doctor. It might seem boring and mundane but it is during this visit that your dentist can remove all that tartar that your toothbrush could not get to. Regularly scheduled dentist appointments will actually save your teeth from permanent damage.

Of course, preventive services also are effective at reducing the need for sick pay and worker’s compensation claims.  In the medical world, when people are allowed services like immunizations, cancer screenings and health counseling, it greatly decreases overall health care costs.

Further, many employees often will need to take time off to assist with a dependent who needs care.  For example, often parents will use their sick days to take care of a sick child who may not have been provided ample preventive care. The bottom line is that the case for preventive medicine is profound and will need to be the real backbone of healthcare reform within our country.

Among all the health care services, dental care stands out as the model for preventive care. In fact, dentistry presents many examples of a proper preventive practice.  For years, dentists have touted the importance of “visiting your dentist every 6 months for a check-up.” Overall, they have been extremely successful at reaching that goal with their patients and this has greatly decreased incidences of tooth decay as well as periodontal disease.  The good news is that the design of dental benefit plans can further enhance the incentives for patients to see their dentist regularly.

If we look specifically at the nature of dental care, we see some specific models of success in preventive care. This success equates to quality care being available at an affordable price.  Through simple and inexpensive dental procedures, patients can not only improve their health, but also can greatly reduce the possibility that they will require costly procedures in the future.

These same principles of prevention can be used to design a self-funded dental plan.  This type of arrangement will put more benefit dollars to work keeping employees healthy.  In turn, a self-funded dental plan will also consume less money in administrative burdens.

With those thoughts in mind, let’s take a look at six reasons why dental can be considered the ideal model for healthcare.

1.  Preventive Care makes up the majority of dental services.

Preventive dental care, consisting of Examinations, Prophylaxis and X-ray survey of the teeth and bone, can account for as much as 80% of the claim volume to dental plans.  When compared to the 5% of benefit dollars paid for preventive care of medical plans, dentistry clearly “walks the walk” and delivers prevention oriented services routinely.

Additionally, when dentists consult with their patients, they focus directly on discussing preventive care. Dentists will offer homecare guidance to their patients based directly on the health of their mouth. Frequent dental exams allow dentists a chance to monitor progress and observe any deterioration. Through routine preventive exams, dentists can guide their patients in the proper direction with the end goal of improving the condition of their teeth and mouth without invasive restorative care.

As a result of preventive dental care in the form of examinations, tests and counseling, most patients find their annual dental expenses kept to a minimum through early detection and maintaining proper practices at home.

2.   Early disease detection leads to lower treatment costs.

Over 200 diseases of the body may be detected through changes in the mouth.  Receiving routine dental care improves the chances of early detection of systemic diseases.  Early detection is one of the most critical indexes of success in treatment and prognosis for a full recovery.

New research findings support a link between periodontal gum disease and respiratory diseases, diabetes, pregnancy problems, heart disease and stroke.  According to the American Academy of Periodontology , treatment of inflammation in the mouth can effectively manage other chronic inflammation problems in the body.

A healthy mouth helps support total body health, and early detection of periodontal disease can lessen the severity of many systemic diseases.  In fact, a 2007 study in the Journal of Periodontology  found that preventing periodontal disease could lower their all of a patient’s health care expenses. This evidence should prove to be very encouraging to companies that are hosting self-funded dental plans or just trying to hold down escalating major medical premiums.

3.  Dental care cost is not only low in cost, but also predictable.

When preventive practices are maintained, dental expenses become predictable as a result. Subsequently, there is a trend for dental care costs year after year to be low.  While we have seen medical premiums commonly increase in double-digits annually, dental trends have held between 3% and 5% since the 1990’s.  This low trend in dental fees keeps dentistry affordable for most patients.  Also patients understand that they can continue to keep costs low through annual visits.  Predictability and low cost from the foundation of self-funding of Dental plans.

4.  Dentists offer additional preventive treatments

Mouth-Body Connection, http://www.perio.org/consumer/mbc.top2.htm.

Maintaining Healthy Teeth and Gums Is a Wise Investment,

http://www.perio.org/consumer/stress09.htm. (Feb. 2009)

Many dental practices engage in further preventive treatments that continue to reduce the incidence of dental decay in the population.  The use of preventive sealant materials on the surface of permanent teeth that erupt into the mouth between the ages of 6 and 12 can provide a solid foundation.

A study published in the Journal of the American Dental Association demonstrated the long-term effectiveness of sealants.    The study lasted over 10 years and showed that 82% of unsealed teeth had cavities, whereas, only 31% of teeth with sealants showed signs of decay.

The good news is that placement of sealants often result in a mouth with no dental disease for an entire lifetime.  Needless to say, this kind of preventive treatment can potentially equate to huge cost savings.  If children survive their candy prone childhood with their teeth intact, their chance of being decay free in their adult life is greatly improved.

5.  Preventive tools are readily available and easy to master.

The vast majority of dental supplies available over the counter are preventive devices.  In contrast, there are aisles and aisles of products geared towards medical conditions which only treat symptoms. Placing proper preventive equipment into the hands of patients is the very best way for them to practice preventive care.

Preventive devices are now readily available and affordable to the population due to the dental profession working together with dental manufacturers. The bottom line is that the fact that patients can be proactive when it comes to their health is another key reason that dental care is an ideal model for healthcare.

6.  Dentistry tends to be affordable for many people.

Healthy people receive preventive care.  However, even a dental phobic who only visits the dentist when something hurts can receive palliative treatment quickly and relatively inexpensively.  Subsequent restorative care that is necessary due to neglect may pose more challenging expenses. Yet, clearly patients often are able to relieve pain at the dentist without incurring any extraordinary expenses. In fact, in a recent American Dental Association survey, 70% of participants said that they believed the dental fees they paid were fair.

In summary, the emphasis on prevention is exemplary in the dental profession. This fact contributes heavily to the reason why self-funding dental benefits are secure.  The insurance industry has long held low annual dental plan maximums. This practice reduces the risk of self-funding on behalf of clients.

Additionally, a patient holds responsibility for a co-payment amount up to 50% of the cost of care. This factor further holds down plan expenses for companies that are hosting self-funding dental plans.

Consider the following aspects of dental care which further support the self-funding model:

  ADA Report on Importance of Dental Sealant Use, http://www.newswise.com/articles/ada-report-on-importance-of-dental-sealant-use. (Feb. 1997).

Most dental plans are structured with large patient co-payments for services.

It is common for a dental plan to only cover 50% of many procedures (for example, crowns and root canals) leaving half the cost to be paid by the patient.  Compared to co-payments as low as $10 found in traditional medical plans, these dental plan co-payments prompt the patient to know the true cost of care.

As a result of these higher dental co-payment costs, unfortunately, patients can end up making decisions about treatments based on whether or not they can afford them.  However, when the insurance companies cover more of the costs of treatment, patients are more likely to follow the guidance from their dentist.

Self-funded plans often remove many of the restrictions and exclusions that limit payments. Therefore, patients are far more likely to follow the dental treatment options that their dentists recommend.  Of course, the end result is that patients may be more likely to receive optimal treatment under the self-funding model, and restoring health has been shown to reduce the cost of the plan over time.

Competition among dentists keeps fees reasonable.

Less than 60% of the population is covered by a dental benefit plan. As a result, a large amount of dental care is now being paid out of pocket by a significant segment of the population. A dental office must achieve a balance between cost and quality of care in order to obtain an adequate flow of new patients.  This factor is much more important in the dental delivery model than in medicine.

The policies of large hospitals often result in an insulated price structure that is seldom understood by the end consumer.  This is due, in part, to multiple levels of contracted care and involvement of many specialty providers for each single case.  Many insured dental plans routinely engage a 4% to 10% increase in premiums, even in good years, to build reserves, absorb rising dental fees and replace lost revenue from poor performance in other business lines.

A self-funded dental plan removes these practices and returns all excess plan funds to the employer every year that the plan performs well.  For many companies, the cost of the self-funded plan is lower than the previous fully insured plan that it replaced over as many as 9 out of 10 plan years.  As it turns out, the savings from the 9 good years easily outweighs the potentially higher cost of self-funding in the year with higher claims cost.  Additionally, with a self-funded plan, more of an employer’s benefit dollars go directly into patient care.

As an added bonus to a quality dental plan, lower medical costs may result from routine dental care.  The annual oral cancer screening that is part of a routine dental exam provides reduced mortality rates.  It also lessens the medical costs for patients with some form of oral cancer.  For example, a biopsy of a suspicious lesion by a dentist is a gateway to prompt attention by a physician for invasive conditions. This takes place before a lesion could invade deep tissues and potentially require radical surgical or radiation therapies.  Early diagnosis and treatment keeps medical costs lower and improves survival rates.

Self-funding a dental plan with access to a network of PPO dentists will improve access to lower cost care.  For that segment of the population that may not be able to afford care at retail rates, this is a massive advantage.

Build your dental plan around prevention to hold down expenses. This practice will keep employees healthy and happily on the job.  It will also reward your business with happy smiles every day.

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Our range of  Dental Care, next to cosmetic procedures, also provides our clients with  the highest level of general dentistry such as fillings, bridge work, root canal treatments and ofcourse we would be happy to schedule your routine check ups.  We aim to bring back your smile.

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