The application of technology never ceases to amaze. With the recent launch of a Bluetooth enabled toothbrush it is
now possible, with the user’s consent, for us to monitor their brushing habits and make suitable suggestions for timings, frequency and so forth. The closest we have ever got to being in our patients’ bathrooms with them (well, probably!).
However, matters in the southern hemisphere have gone a step further with unemployed New Zealanders now being reminded by daily mobile phone texts to brush their teeth. The messages to the nation’s 25,000 young jobless are being sent out by the health ministry and are described as ‘motivational’, asking whether the recipients have brushed and telling them to respond when they have done so. The ministry decided to issue the daily reminders after it noticed a rise in claims for assistance to pay for emergency treatment.
While perhaps on the heavy-handed side for oral health, at least it must be helping to reduce the unemployment figures by engaging people to send the texts.
Electrickery
A further technological advance has been heralded in the form of an electronic technique to remineralise early carious lesions. Known as Electrically Accelerated and Enhanced Remineralisation (EAER), the process uses an electric current to drive minerals into demineralised hard tooth tissue after any superficial caries has been removed. It is hoped to be on the market by 2017, at which time many of us may wish to take advantage of the government’s newly proposed changes to the pension system.
It all sounds very 21st century and will I am sure advance oral care but, with the greatest respect to the inventors, we have read headlines such as ‘the end of the drill’ many times before so, let’s not hold our breath. The other slight worry is that our dearly beloved patients, not shy of trying some DIY dentistry, may take the odd electric cable into their own hands and mouths; after all if a small current cures caries surely a larger one could create a crown. Porcelain fused to gold?
Contra-deal
Fascinating possibilities emerge from the news that students are being encouraged to consider studying dentistry, medicine and veterinary medicine in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Latvia and Bulgaria, if they failed to secure a place in oversubscribed universities in the UK. The prediction is that the appeal of these courses, since the degrees
will be recognised in the UK, will be quite high given the competitive nature of applications here and the costs of student loans. The courses in the countries listed are taught in English, although prospective students are advised that they will need to learn the ‘native’ language in order to be able to communicate with patients.
Among other considerations, with the continued demand for dental tourism, travelling abroad to be treated by a ‘British’ dentist trained outside the UK but with good English and an understanding of the culture could prove to be a huge bonus.