Living for the moment

One of the best things about being a dental professional is working with patients. For “best” also read, “most challenging” or “most inspiring” with any number of alternatives that could be used, and which could change by the week, day or hour.

Every patient presents with a unique oral health situation, as well as a combination of other factors that could be creating a barrier to them improving it. These might be socioeconomic factors, such as their income, or there may be health-related circumstances – their smoking or nutritional status, for example. Subjective factors that compromise oral health status include being fearful of the dentist, not liking their clinician, or struggling to fit a visit to the practice into a busy schedule if it’s hard to secure a convenient appointment time.