We should destigmatise dental health care
This week I had a total of 6 fillings put into my teeth, across two appointments. I'm very thankful that I was able to have this done, and am happy with the outcome of the procedure. But I feel a strange anxiety about having had this done: the feeling that it was my fault. That I put off going to the dentist for too long, or that I should have brushed better, or that I should have flossed. The feeling that I caused this.
This thought feels strange in my mind. I'm no stranger to anxiety, but this particular thought feels foreign. I've had some minor health issues before, and never felt that I shouldn't have had them. I don't think I have a particular sensitivity to dental health; I never had any related traumatic experiences, and we had a positive view of dental care growing up. Feeling like this made me notice a stigma attached to dental health care1.
The reality is, it's true that this is partly my fault! I should have brushed better, should have flossed, should have built a regular routine of dentist appointments. If I had done these things, I would have needed less fixing-up. But I don't think it's necessary or healthy to moralise these mistakes.
We've done a lot of work in destigmatising many areas of health care. For instance, if I had a genetic predisposition to obesity, in this day and age it would be not cool to for someone to say: "You shouldn't eat so much." If I was struggling with depression, it would be not cool for someone to tell me to "toughen up". Yet, I feel in myself a worry that anyone I tell about my fillings might say: "You should have brushed better." Not cool!
Here are some guesses that I have for factors contributing to this stigma2:
- Common fear of dentists
- Dental care being expensive relative to general medicine
- Personal oral care being equated to personal hygiene (i.e. "if you have fillings your breath must stink")
In future, I'm going to try to talk differently about dental care. Rather than praising someone's dental record free of fillings as "a job well done", it's "a happily simple history"; emphasising that not all factors contributing to dental health care are within one's control.
What did I miss? Do you perceive the same stigma? Email me to let me know.