Raising awareness about dental issues, in general, and caries, in particular, among adults, is crucial for improving the quality of the dentistry-related services. According to a recent report by CDC, despite recent positive trends, the overall characteristic of the current situation as far as dental issues in adults are concerned is rather negative. For instance, the 2011-2012 statistical data shows that the percentage of children aged 5-19 reached 17.5% in 2012, whereas the number of adults aged 20-44 suffering from untreated caries was 27.4% the same year (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2013). Therefore, there is an urge to come up with the program aimed at promoting awareness among the target members of the population and providing the information regarding the means of preventing, detecting, and managing caries.
The course that I enrolled and participated in shed a lot of light on the issue of providing the target members of the society with the essential information about dental caries and the means of managing it. The course was especially helpful in providing a deeper insight into the ways of managing a dental program and encouraging people to participate in increasing awareness rates, as well as learning new skills. I have singled out three crucial pieces of information that will help me, later on, invent an efficient strategy for promoting dental care.
The proper us of information is, perhaps, the most important idea that I have gained with the help of the course. Although the significance of communication with patients has always been high in healthcare, in general, and in dentistry, in particular, the obstacles that doctors face in the process of getting their message across are often omitted (World Health Organization, 2012). Thus, learning about the incorporation of modern IT tools into the set of communication strategies of dentists when designing an awareness program was very useful. Furthermore, the concept of using social networks and other types of modern media as the means of raising awareness and providing the target embers of the population with an opportunity to learn more should be mentioned as a good idea.
Another way in which the course helped me understand the process of setting a public healthcare dental program was the emphasis on offering the audience an opportunity of avoiding the problems associated with poor hygiene. The importance of prevention along with treatment is quite understandable, yet it is very easy to fail to pay enough attention to the prevention strategies exactly because of their self-explanatory significance. Consequently, by offering the tools that would assist in explaining the essential and seemingly evident concepts of dental care, in general, and the prevention of caries, in particular, to the identified members of the society, the program gained a new meaning for me.
Finally, the course incorporated the information that would help reach out to the underserviced members of the population, including the ones that belong to the lower class, the ones living under the poverty threshold, immigrants, who have a poor command of English, etc. As a result, the crucial obstacles on the way to enhancing dental awareness and preventing caries development in children and adults became visible. Furthermore, the insights gained from learning about the cross-cultural strategies to be used to communicate with the underserviced members of the society allowed enhancing diversity and promoting multiculturalism as the foundation for a successful program design.
References
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2013). Oral and dental health. Web.
World Health Organization. (2012). Oral health. Web.