Could your toothbrush save your life?

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                                    (Commentary Today Monday 19 March 2018)

                Could your toothbrush save your life?  

By Matt Moran

Reuters file photo

Updated 19 March, 2018

The importance of brushing is in the spotlight as this week marks the World Oral Health Day. It’s widely known that bad breath, yellowing teeth and fillings are unpleasant side-effects of not maintaining good dental habits, but did you know that several more serious health conditions may also be linked to poor oral hygiene as well?

If the answer is “no”, you’re not alone. Recent studies suggest that poor dental habits may be linked to, or may exacerbate, a number of common, chronic conditions – from heart disease to arthritis – but few people know this.

In fact, until relatively recently, oral hygiene was not considered a contributing factor to a person’s overall health at all. But more and more studies are starting to suggest a possible link between the two. So oral health is about much more than getting a nice smile; it could also be a key part of maintaining general health and wellbeing.

Yet despite this, many of us aren’t taking as much care of our teeth as we should. Oral disease affects 3.9 billion people worldwide, and untreated tooth decay impacts almost half of the world’s population. And what’s more shocking still is that this doesn’t just affect adults; globally between 60 to 90 per cent of schoolchildren also have tooth decay.

Fostering better brushing habits from a young age is the key to reversing this worrying trend, but could consumer technology play a role, too? Electric toothbrushes can help people to brush more thoroughly, but what if your toothbrush also kept a record of your brushing habits, and shared that data with your dentist?

We’re already starting to see ‘connected’ devices helping to improve other aspects of our day-to-day health by gathering data and setting goals – from apps to get a better night’s sleep, to fitness trackers that record every step and calorie – and the technology is available for toothbrushes to follow suit, providing dentists with a wealth of information on how well their patients are looking after their teeth and prompting better brushing habits through real-time data.

Looking a little further into the future, it’s also possible that toothbrushes could be one of a number of household devices used to detect and prevent the onset of illness too. Imagine, for example, your toothbrush being able to detect the early warning signs of the flu from changes in your saliva when brushing.

In order to take advantage of this, Singapore needs to shift from prioritising treatment, to instead putting more focus on prevention. This is a big step change. Like most developed countries, we’re accustomed to only think about our health when we get sick; most people only go to the doctor when they fall ill, and the dentists when they already have a toothache.

The advent of new consumer technology that can track our health and wellbeing day-to-day (even hour-to-hour) presents a big opportunity for us to fundamentally change how health and dental care are administered, and in doing so improve outcomes for patients. But we will only benefit from this if it is fully embraced as part of the Smart Nation movement.

Philips’ latest Future Health Index (FHI) points to a skills gap in Singapore when it comes to knowing how to read and interpret the data from health trackers, so public education and training will be key to success.

The FHI report also shows that Singapore’s healthcare practitioners themselves aren’t all completely familiar with how to deal with the vast amounts of patient data that are now collected by consumer devices, so more needs to be done to ensure that professional training catches up with technological advances too.

But ultimately the buck has to stop with us - the individual. We know what we need to do to stay fit and healthy, and we now have the technology in our pockets and bathroom cabinets to keep track, so there are no more excuses.

To pre-empt and prevent illness and tooth decay, better habits need to become habitual. So next time you’re feeling lazy about brushing or flossing, think again – it’s not just your smile, but also your health, that’s at stake.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Matt Moran is the General Manager, Personal Health for Philips ASEAN Pacific.