Unfortunately, people who live in rural or remote areas of Australia do not always have easy access to dental care. In many cases, if you live in a remote or rural area, you may have to drive miles for your care. Wondering how to make the lack of dentists easier for yourself, your family and your community? Take a look at these ideas:
1. Focus on preventative care
When you cannot easily access a dentist, you need to focus on preventative care even more than most people. As a result, it pays to be vigilant about brushing, flossing and other dental hygiene. If possible, also try to see the dentist as often as possible. If you can, schedule cleanings even if you don't have cavities, toothaches or other issues.
2. Carpool with neighbours to dental appointments
For some people who live in rural areas, it's relatively easy to make the drive to a dentist once or twice a year, but for people who have older or ailing cars, making the trek to a town or city to see the dentist can be challenging. If you fall into the latter category or if you want to help friends or community members who fall into the latter category, consider setting up a carpool to drive to the dentist.
For example, several families in your community could pool together, hire a large van and drive to the dentist in the closest town a couple times each year. That helps defray expenses.
3. Solicit dentists to come to your community
In lieu of working together to get to the dentist, consider trying to draw dentists into your community. Working on your own or with other members of your community, you could try to convince a dentist to travel to your area. He or she could bring a trailer outfitted with dental equipment, or you could set up a small office for him or her in a government-owned building.
This is a community effort that will take some planning, but ultimately, it helps to bring dental care to your community. Depending on the type of facility you or the dentist is able to set up, he or she may be able to do diagnostic work and then refer patients who need treatment to his or her permanent office in the nearby city. However, in some cases, you may be able to set up a clinic that has all the equipment the dentist needs to fill cavities, do root canals and the like.
4. Build an emergency dental kit
Whether a dentist comes to your community or not, in the case of emergencies you likely won't be able to reach a dentist quickly and easily. Because of that, you should always have a little kit on hand to address emergencies. It should contain oral gel for tooth pains, temporary fillings to put in when a filling or cap falls out and ibuprofen or a similar pain killer.
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30 August 2016
Hi! My name is Sarah, and as a busy professional, I understand the importance of making the most of my time. That includes everything from having productive working lunches to making the most of my dental checkups. I have created this blog to help you maximise your dental checkups. In these posts, you can learn how to prepare for your checkup, which questions to ask during your checkup and more. I am also going to have posts explaining why checkups are critical to your dental health as well as the health of your entire body. Happy reading, and thanks for visiting my blog!
