Half of French people underestimate the close link between oral health and certain chronic diseases. Dentists are mobilizing.
Aware of the need to support all French people in acquiring good oral hygiene habits on a daily basis, Pierre Fabre Oral Care laboratories, in partnership with the French Union for Oral Health (UFSBD), have imagined a Season of Awareness, Motivation, Education with the “Spring of Smiles”.
On the occasion of this operation, a major survey on this subject was sent to the French in February 2017. First observation, the French clearly dissociate oral health from the field of global health. And that is detrimental to them.
Unknown risks
Concretely, nearly half of our fellow citizens (46%) misunderstand the link between oral health and overall health, even though the interrelationships with chronic diseases and cardiovascular diseases are no longer to be demonstrated.
Another little-known danger is the risk of premature childbirth, which is three times higher in a pregnant woman with periodontitis, not to mention the consequences on malnutrition due to edentulousness. Worse, 27% of those questioned declared themselves in good general health even though they were not in good oral health.
Brushing sometimes failing
Moreover, the French do not realize the preponderant role of good daily dental hygiene. Thus, nearly a quarter (23%) of them admit brushing their teeth less than twice a day and more than half (53%) never use dental floss, “yet essential in the arsenal daily to fight against caries between the teeth (inter-proximal caries) ”, points out the UFSBD.
Finally, for the French, sensitivity and bleeding do not seem to be interpreted as pathologies but just as discomfort: 52% of those who suffer from bleeding have not been to the dentist for more than 1 year and 77% of those who declare themselves in good dental health suffer from sensitivity from time to time.
A damaging ignorance because “bleeding is the forerunner of periodontal disease which can go as far as the loss of teeth”, conclude the investigators.
The role of the underestimated pharmacist
In this survey, more than three quarters (73%) of French people surveyed admit not discussing their oral health with the pharmacist. More precisely, 79% do not think about it and 17% consider that the pharmacist is not an expert on the subject.
With only 16% of French people asking him for advice, the pharmacist is therefore not yet considered as an interlocutor of choice in the field of oral health.
“However, because he knows the pathologies of patients through the delivery of drugs, he has an essential role to play in the interactions between oral health and general health,” recalls the UFSBD.
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