Do-It-Yourself Dental Care Increasing

'
DENTAL NEWS
With the tough economic timeswe live in, people are increasingly practicing dentistry on themselves -- a.k.a. do-it-yourself dental -- and end up doing more damage to their teeth than doing nothing would've done. All too often this results in these do-it-yourselfers spending far more money as they're forced to seek treatment from a real dentist to correct problems resulting from their "do-it-yourself dental care" attempts.

"Self dental care is on the rise" says Jenny Englerth, executive director of Family First Health clinics in the southern part of Pennsylvania. "People go online and try to find out how to do their own dental work. Unfortunately, people (are looking) to save money and decline to pay for optional dental coverage through their employers' health insurance", said Englerth.

During economic hard times, dental care is one of the first things cut from family budgets and the Family First Health dentists have seen a marked increase in patients who required corrective dental work because they tried repairing chipped teeth or filling cavities on their own to save money, reported Englerth. Similarly, many patients are waiting until infections in their mouths cause intolerable pain or their rotted teeth have to be immediately pulled.

"Our dentists are certainly seeing more people going without dental care and needed restoration work after many years (of neglecting their teeth)," said Englerth.

Last year, Family First clinics offered discounted dental services to nearly 6,000 uninsured patients, said Englerth. The clinics had nearly 19,000 combined dental office visits last year. In 2011, however, Family First Health has experienced a 30% increase in uninsured people seeking dental treatment at their clinics.