Methodology Research
Order Description
Describe your Research Design, Subjects and Setting, Data Sources, and tell what Data Analyses you will employ.
Ways of Reducing Tooth Decay in America
Julie Belsanti
University of Illinois Springfield
Reducing Oral and Decay Diseases in America
Dental caries have become a chronic disease for people continuously from when they are infants all the way to their adulthood in the America as revealed by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). According to Dye, Tan, and Smith (2007), dental caries or commonly known as tooth decay is an infectious and chronic disease that begins at early childhood. Dye et al. assert that dental carries varies with the tooth surface and age. As such, various studies have been carried out to determine the cause and prevalence of dental carries in the U.S.
CDC analyzed reports from 2005-2010 for children and adolescents between 0 and 21 years. A total of 12,143 records were analyzed to estimate the levels of dental care use. The report found out that dental caries affect at least 25 percent of U.S. infants aged between two to five years and extend to 28 percent of adults aged 35 to 44 years (CDC, 2016). Their research found that factors such as ethnicity and income can be used to determine the level of the oral health that every population experiences.
With demographic factors limiting access to better health care services, this disease is predicted to grow with time. According to research carried by Institute of Medicine (2011), only two-thirds of Americans are in a position of accessing health care from a dentist. The other third are unable to access due to the social challenges that they face. The Institute of Medicine (2011) claims that most Americans, especially older adults and poor children, have limited access to these services due to the economic hardships. Despite the increased advances in the oral health, the disease will remain a problem unless there is financial intervention.
As an effective way of addressing this problem, various programs have been created with the aim of reaching the underserved population in the American society. The effectiveness of these programs relies on the way they are implemented regarding the barriers that they address. The Institute of Medicine and National Research Council (2011) identified the core factors that limit underserved populations’ access to dental care including social, structural, geographic, and economic factors. With the aid of the historical findings, the Institute of Medicine and National Research Council (2011) recommends the use of educational programs as an effective way of countering dental caries in America.
American Dental Association report to Congress identified the common barriers to access to oral health for most of Americans (ADA, 2014). These barriers were discussed during a meeting held by over 500 doctors. During this meeting, policies of combating dental and oral diseases were made in conjunction with the goals of these policies. The development of outreach programs was also emphasized as being an effective way of reaching underserved populations, as were various strategies for implementing them with the aim of ensuring that the poor children and elder adults could have equal access to oral health.
One sure way to decrease dental caries in infants is the development of the programs that counter this problem by increasing accessibility to health care services. Marinho (2003) argues that fluoride can be used in preventing most dental caries. Upon the evaluation of research on the use of fluoride in controlling oral and dental diseases, Marinho (2003) claims that the use of fluoride is efficient and emphasizes using the correct amount of fluoride to ensure that it will perform as needed.
American Dental Association (2016) also proposed a reliable way of preventing and controlling tooth cavities in children and adults through flossing between teeth and gums. The American Dental Association recommends flossing at least once a day. Flossing is important for removing plaque between the teeth (American Dental Association, 2016). Moreover, flossing is especially recommended for use among people who are yet affected by oral diseases as it has a higher potential for preventing dental diseases than the use of mouth washes.
Additionally increasing the access to health care and oral health services plays a great role in reducing cases of dental cavities. Mouradian, Wehr, and Crall (2000) claimed that there is a need to enhance the training of the dental professionals through the provisional of quality dental education in conjunction of implementing school-based programs to educate students on various methods of preventing dental caries. Besides, the service delivery of oral health should be expanded so that these services can be accessed from a variety of places from homes to the hospitals. Mouradian (2000) explain that educating dentists and students on this issue can be a way of curbing this menace at its roots. Moreover, educational programs can be used to teach small children to adolescents will be taught effective ways of taking care of their teeth are another way of providing care.
The fact that most of infants are the ones vulnerable to oral diseases has prompted the U.S. Preventive Services Taskforce (2016) to carry out research on how the increased rate of dental caries can be reduced. They claimed that the provision of oral fluoride is the primary way of reducing dental caries. The chart provided by U.S. Preventive Services Taskforce shows how practitioners should administer dental care to infants by regularly providing them with oral fluoride.
Approximately 85 million Americans do not receive regular dental care which results in missed workdays, school absences, and emergency department use (Pew Charitable Trusts, 2012). The access to dental care is critical for both adults and children, and it should be available to everyone. The large population in need of dental care shows the need for the government intervention and more investments made in enhancing dental care. Extrapolating from a report released concerning the effect of paying for Medicaid, it has been found that payments made to access dental care dictate the number of people who will seek it (Pew Charitable Trusts, 2012). It has also been revealed that most of the visitors to the ER with dental issues have preventable dental problems. As a way of reducing these costly visits, oral health should be enhanced and dealt with at its lowest level.
Daly and Smith (2007) also studied the prevalence of dental carries among old people. In their study, Daly and Smith focused on the role that community nurses play in ensuring good health for the elderly in the U.K. They suggested that nursing teams need to ensure that their patients get a constant access to dental care. In addition, they suggested that people should register with dental providers whether they use complete dentures or have natural teeth. Further Daly and Smith suggested that oral disease prevention kits and decay risk management should be encouraged among old people.
Indeed, the ease of access to the dental care is crucial to combating the increasing oral and dental diseases in America. More significant is the willingness of the patients to seek this care as it is the prime step in countering this problem. Nevertheless, many barriers hinder the access to these services, ranging from the economic, to social, and ethnic factors that limit the provision of the dental care; thus increasing the number of underserved population. In response, various programs have been developed to reach underserved populations and ensure that dental caries are controlled. The need to increase the number of dentists in the rural areas is one way of reducing oral diseases. Reduction of dental fees plays a crucial role in enhancing the way these services are accessed. Educating children and adults on the fundamental ways of preventing oral diseases can greatly assist in the reduction of the prevalence of these diseases.

References

American Dental Association (2016). How often should I floss my teeth? Retrieved from http://www.mouthhealthy.org/en/az-topics/f/flossing

CDC. (2016). Use of dental care and effective preventive services in preventing tooth
decay among U.S. children and adolescents — Medical expenditure panel survey,
United States, 2003–2009 and National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey,
United States, 2005–2010. Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/su6302a9.htm

Daly, B., & Smith, K. (2015). Promoting good dental health in older people: role of the community nurse. British Journal of Community Nursing, 20(9), 431-436.

Dye, B. A., Tan, S., & Smith, V. (2007). Trends in oral health status: United States, 1988, 1994, 1999, and 2004. Vital Health Stat, 11(248), 1-92

National Research Council Institute of Medicine , (2011). , Improving access to oral health care for vulnerable and underserved populations. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. Retrieved from: http://www.hrsa.gov/publichealth/clinical/oralhealth/improvingaccess.pdf

Marinho V.C., Higgins, J. P., Logan, S., & Sheiham, A. (2016). Systematic review of controlled trials on the effectiveness of fluoride gels for the prevention of dental caries in children. Journal of Dental Education, 67(4), 448-458.Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12749574

Mouradian, W. I.; Wehr, E., & Crall, J. J. (2000). Disparities in children’s oral health and access to care. Journal of the American Medical Association, 284(20):2625–2631.

Pew Charitable Ttrusts, (2012). A costly dental destination: Hospital care means states
pay dearly.Retrieved from
http://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/reports/2012/02/28/a-costly-
dental destination

U.S. Preventive Services Taskforce. (2016). Dental caries in children from birth through age 5 years: Screening. Retrieved from http://www.uspreventiveservicestaskforce.org/uspstf/uspsdnch.htm