Mobile dentistry has gained more attention for its very innovative purpose of bringing dental clinics to patients. Though the idea has been praised for highlighting convenience in the field of dentistry, the fact that numerous portable dental services that only offer “preventive care” has touched critics in a significant way. One of the main reasons why doubts are being given to this new trend is the idea of providing solutions without a follow-up to most dental problems.
While we can see the bright side of mobile dentistry roaming around schools and communities, the amount of people being engaged in the process is also being looked at as alarming for possible fraud portable dental services. With this realization, we come up to a single important question: is mobile dentistry boon or bane?
Access to Dental Care
One of the biggest problems that most people are facing right now is the access to dental services. Imagine being in a situation where your tooth suddenly aches and you are located in a community that is almost untouchable due to its distance to the nearest clinic, it is pretty complicated, isn’t it? You will still need to bear with the pain on your journey towards the nearest clinic just to have a remedy to your problem. Still, it is not a guaranteed solution since most of the time, dental clinics set up appointments for patients in a single day. And what if the nearest office is closed even when you are experiencing an emergency dental problem?
While “preventive only care” might correspond to short-term resolution only, it still resolves the issue of access to most communities. No one would want to accept the pain of a dental problem when there is an available portable dental clinic just across the street. So whether it be a preventive or a corrective care, mobile dentistry still inarguably aced a significance in this aspect.
Convenience of Finding Cure
Try to imagine this situation in your head. You felt the need to consult a dentist regarding a dental problem while you are doing a report that your boss need after dinner, you walked in to a portable dental clinic and then the dentist and staffs arrived in the facility. They began inspecting what the issue is and started working on your dental problem. After an hour, preventive care was already applied to you and you were dismissed so you quickly get back to your house to finish the report without feeling any pain.
Quite easy, right? Convenience has never been more attainable with mobile dentistry. Aside from you wont have to make an appointment and travel an hour to the office enduring pain, portable dental clinics are also dedicated in reaching out different types of communities such as senior communities and homes for disabled people. The purpose does not only focus on giving preventive care but also making easier process of healing to the needs of varying communities.
Again, another key point to consider about the benefit of mobile dentistry.
Equipment and Facilities
Obviously just by the word itself, mobile dentistry sounds very comprehensive and includes a lot of process. Moreover, it can also be potentially expensive with the use of gasoline to deliver heavy built equipment or even a whole facility to a certain community. One disadvantage on the side of the staffs is the transportation of equipment, most especially to places with high elevation. While a traditional dental clinic is fully equipped with tools and materials, portable dental service has made a solution to this conflict.
Since a dental clinic will absolutely not fit in a single mobile van or bus, there are usual instances where multiple portable units carrying inventory hit the road at the same time. If in any case that maintenance for equipment becomes a need, it can be easily replaced in a portable dental clinic without affecting or cutting off the process of operation.
There will always be challenges, but with proper planning and implementation, portable dental service can still swing from a disadvantage to an innovation with a purpose.
It is a norm in the society to be a critique when it comes to new processes or services that are being introduced to make our lives easier. But with the overall advantages and benefits that the mobile dentistry is offered, we will still pick the side of being thankful that this idea had surfaced to tackle certain issues like the lack of access to oral health for most communities and the inconvenience of finding a cure to dental problems in the lives of people in need such as elderlies and disabled loved ones.
After all, development and evolution are never ending. We will still come up to the place where everything will be considered boon and there will be no room anymore for negative sides despite of contradicting opinions.