Teeth: Your body's early warning system
- sachijaokar
- Aug 28, 2020
- 3 min read
Updated: Mar 18, 2021
This week I thought it would be interesting to watch a TED talk to conduct further research in the field of dentistry. Marielle Pariseau, the speaker immediately caught my attention within the first twenty-six seconds of her presentation. Her description of teeth blew me away. Often when people ask me why I want to pursue a career in dentistry or how I initially found interest in the field, I feel as if I am at a loss for words. I have a hard time explaining why exactly I find teeth intriguing. However, Pariseau somehow found the words for my thoughts. She says she “fell in love with the beauty of teeth, the elegance of their lines and how cleverly they marry”. Her description was music to my ears for she described a feature that could be considered mundane to the average person, as unique and almost poetic.
Although Pariseau describes the beauty of teeth, she quickly and effortlessly transitions into the main purpose of her presentation. I appreciated her presentation style. It almost reminds me of an assertion, evidence, and commentary format. She opens with her thesis statement, stating that “[she] is here to share [that] teeth are the secret sentinels of our body”. A sentinel is a soldier or guard whose job is to stand and keep watch. Her clear and concise thesis sets the tone for the rest of her presentation. I know I tend to stray away from having a solid introduction and thesis statement when presenting however, by analyzing Pariseau’s speech I have now realized that this format is key in capturing and maintaining the attention of your audience. Research doesn’t have to solely be content-based. It can also be stylistic, which is why I am glad I had decided to watch a presentation rather than read an article this week. Through this TED talk, I have not only gained knowledge on my topic but also the tools needed to become a better speaker.
Pariseau then moves onto the “evidence” portion of her presentation. She states that low-fat diets as well as fluoridated water have been proven to maintain the health of teeth as well as prevent coronary heart disease. Sugar is also a major cause of both coronary heart disease and tooth decay. However, big corporations that rely on sugar for profit do not want to admit this. In October 1999, the CDC named community water fluoridation one of the top ten public health achievements of the 20th century. While this was a revelation, tooth decay is still the number one cause of childhood disease, four times more common than asthma. Most people don’t realize that sugar is a much bigger issue than it is made out to be, and it is causing more than just cavities. “Since sugar has found its way into every single aisle of our grocery store there has been an alarming increase in the rates of obesity and non-alcoholic fatty liver diseases in children,” Pariseau says. These diet-related issues are the concern of pediatricians and physicians while dentists work on tooth decay separately. Pariseau’s main argument is that teeth are not separate from the rest of the body. By this, she means that our teeth are the most obvious, accessible, early warning system for predicting future breakdowns elsewhere in the body before they occur.
We can transform a simple dental visit into a whole health advantage. Marielle Pariseau’s message was one I as well as other aspiring dentists need to be aware of. My takeaway of Pariseau’s presentation is that dentists should be alerting their patients of more than just what is going on in their mouth. By this I mean our knowledge should extend to how oral health is indicating issues with overall health. Teeth are so accessible compared to your liver for example, so there is no reason we shouldn’t be using oral health to determine overall health. Dentists are in high demand compared to all other occupations and I do believe that this is a major reason why. By detecting a problem in overall health using oral health we are saving our patients time and money. It is known that the quicker a health disease is detected the easier it is to solve. Teeth are like Pariseau said, sentinels of our body, and dentists should be using this as an advantage. I loved this TED talk, because not only was it informative but it also helped me appreciate the way Marielle Pariseau presented. It taught me that there is so much more to dentistry than “cleaning and filling” teeth. There is an unexplored universe right in front of us: it happens to be in our mouths. As research advances our skills as dentists should too: which is why we must take action right now. Let’s start by letting our patients know how their oral health is affecting their overall health.
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