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Preventative Care is Key Prevention is a great system to maintain both dental and medical health and reduce health care costs. Before prevention is initiated, the patient must recognize potential problems. A comprehensive examination must be completed before starting a dental or medical preventative system. For example, the cardiologist does not start cardiovascular surgery before completing a comprehensive examination of the patient. |
Your Teeth Can Be for a Lifetime Nature planned for our teeth for a lifetime. Many times we do not appreciate our teeth until they are lost; we all should learn more about the importance of healthy teeth and the maintenance of our dentition. A bright healthy smile can make you feel and look good throughout your lifetime. All it takes to keep your mouth healthy is your own daily effort combined with regular professional care. Prevention is the answer to maintaining your teeth and your dental health. |
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(more "Dear Dentist" articles)
(more "Dear Dentist" articles)
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(Whittier Daily News / Local Assets / Brett Sporich) Dentist pioneered early care Prevention called key to good health
Whittier - For more than 30 years, Dr. Henry Malm has been applying a holistic approach to preventive dentistry aimed at Whittier's youth.
Looking more like a historical museum than a dentist's office with its extensive photographic history of Whittier lining the wall and examination rooms, Malm's antique office appears to be anything but cutting-edge.
But looks can be deceiving. Malm claims to be the first dentist in town to have used fluorides, first to have used bondings and first to seriously teach prevention to his very young patients.
Q: When should parents bring their children to the dentist?
A: W should see them by age 3. But if something shows up, like a dark spot on the tooth if they have a fall that knocks teeth loose, parents should bring them earlier. The dentist has to become a friend of the little one. A large part of prevention is getting to know the doctor. Rather than bring them in a t 6 or 7 years old to get a cavity filled, the child should have some experience, like a minor cleaning, with the dentist at an earlier age.
Q: Why treat baby teeth at all, if they're going to come out later?
A: Treatment of baby teeth is important for comfort if there is any decay and to maintain proper space for the permanent teeth to come in. Because were a baby tooth is, a permanent tooth will come in. And besides the typical lessons in brushing, informing parents and their kids about how nutrition can affect tooth decay, you have things like "the bottle syndrome," where very young children develop tooth decay from always sucking off the bottle in the same or similar position, day after day. Plus, we need to teach parents how sugars are hidden within foods. The longer a person is exposed to sugar, the greater the chance of tooth decay. And sugar mixed with carbonation can really do a job on teeth.
Q: What new techniques to prevent cavities are there for parents and their children?
A: Besides prevention, through proper nutrition and brushing, there are different types of sealants that coat the biting portions of the teeth, where decay occurs most often. More and more insurance companies are including this in their benefits.
Q: How has dentistry changed since you began your practice 32 years ago?
A: We used to have an old saying: "Drill, fill, and bill," and that was about the extent of it. But dentistry has come a long way in 30n years. In fact, it has been the leader in preventative medicine for some time now. That's why you don't herar so much about it in regards to the nation's heath-care reform being debated in Washington. And the key to prevention in dentistry is establishing good habits in one's youth that will carry on later in life.
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