Changes in Dentistry Over the Past 30 Years

Dentistry has changed immensely over the last 30 years. Not only has the equipment, products and services changed but so has the manner in which we provide dental treatment.

In the past 30 years there has been a complete paradigm shift from reactive to preventative dentistry. Reactive dentistry deals with treating according to a patient’s symptoms, usually when a disease process is quite far along or advanced. Treating dental disease in this fashion provides poor outcomes for the patient, sometimes resulting in tooth loss or further deterioration of the oral cavity.

Currently dentistry is very much prevention oriented. This means that instead of reacting to a problem/disease when it is far advanced, the dental treatment we provide is aimed to prevent dental problems/disease before they start or at least before they have a chance to cause irreversible damage. With the prevention oriented model of care comes better outcomes – ultimately prevention of disease and people keeping their teeth for life.

When you attend your dental appointment every 3, 4 or 6 months to see your dentist and dental hygienist they are examining your oral cavity for early signs of disease. These early warning signs can allow us to treat a disease process prior to it taking hold and causing destruction. At times, some forms of dental disease can even be reversed.