Open Mouths Closed Minds


I find people are more open-minded when visiting beauty parlors than when visiting dentists. 

Sample two conversations:

 

Conversation1:

Beautician: Madam your hair looks dry which can increase hair fall- I suggest you go in for a hair spa treatment.
Lady: Really? Ok – sure. Can we do the first sitting today?


Conversation 2: 

Dentist: Madam you teeth have a lot of stains and tartar which can affect the health of your gums and can cause your teeth to loosen in the long run. I suggest you get a teeth cleaning done.
Lady: Really? But …errrr….no…not now. Anyway I have heard that scaling and polishing causes the enamel to be rubbed off. And it is painful. and it will take long.
  
The list of excuses goes on….

How come we are so closed minded with regard to dental treatment when we are so open minded to everything else.

We color our hair to look younger and do not worry about chemicals.

We apply a million fairness creams and do not worry about side effects. 

We get liposuction done without worrying about morbidity.

And yet – keeping our mouths clean and disease free is fraught with danger? 

If you trust your dentist and he/she is known to be an ethical person then program yourself to get over random newspaper/internet articles which many a time can be misleading without knowing the entire story.

In this age of information overdose it is necessary to sift through the truth, the half truths and the outright lies. Remember – most information on the internet is company/profit driven. (Maybe even this article :))

But make informed decisions based on more than just one piece of information.  Talk to other educated people and maybe even get a second opinion from another dentist. If everything coincides – maybe you do need that treatment as much or more than you need that hair spa. 

Just because dentists don’t put up hoardings about shiny teeth like the hair salons who put up models with beautiful hair – doesn’t mean that dental care is less important. 

Once last thing – all those hoardings of models with long flowing hair and glowing skin – are they grumpy? Or are they smiling showing their pearly whites? :) Well – there is your Advertisement for beautiful teeth.