One of the things that people must continue to take care of is their oral health. Dr. Arlene Asante is a cosmetic dentist who is always reminding her patients to maintain good oral hygiene and informing them of some of the things that cause their hygiene to decline.
Dr. Asante spoke with rolling out about the importance of oral health and some of the things the Black community is faced with when it pertains to oral health.
What is one important thing people should know about their oral health?
I will say the number one thing that I see that maybe patients sometimes don’t see is that when you have systemic diseases such as diabetes, high blood pressure, cancer, osteoporosis, or if you’re currently pregnant, these indicators affect your oral health. I want to share with the community that we really need to get more people involved in understanding that your dentist can actually see that you have systemic issues by just looking in your mouth. When you have diabetes, it also affects your oral health. Recently, I had a patient who had diabetes, and within six months, his oral health went down, and he couldn’t understand why all of his gums were bleeding. There was such an impact on his oral health after he was diagnosed with diabetes.
It’s the same thing with osteoporosis or high blood pressure or patients when they’re pregnant because of the hormone change. It’s so important that when you are struggling with, or you’re diagnosed [with] other systemic diseases, you should definitely look into making sure that your oral health is okay because you only get two sets. You get the ones when you’re a child and at six years old, you get your second set, but that is it. Be mindful that if you’re not taking care of your teeth, you will not have them. There is the alternative of getting dentures and implants, but the number one best thing is somebody who has the teeth that they originally had.
What are some things the Black community faces when it comes to oral health?
I do believe that, unfortunately, there is a long history of African Americans or minorities, in general, having an issue with access to care, then once they find care, they are troubled because they want to know if the doctor understands their needs, community, and culture. For most minorities, unfortunately, they’re unable to get access to care, so they can’t find a doctor that will take them. Maybe because the clinic is overbooked, or the insurance that they have, there’s only a limited amount of providers. We have a lot of people who are minorities and are not getting proper care because of the frustration of just trying to simply get an appointment. Then once you get an appointment, will that doctor understand your needs and your culture, and can you trust them?
I think the doctor-patient relationship is very important and sometimes that affects our community to be compliant with what the doctor is saying. I find that sometimes people in our community don’t think the doctor is on our side. My team and I are really big on making sure that we make all people comfortable from the person who’s the CEO of a company to someone who may be unemployed right now in their life. I know for me and my team, we’re really big on serving everybody. [Still,] I do see that primarily in our community, unfortunately, access to care and just the trust between the doctor and the patient is an issue.
