Dental Health Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Dental Health - Essay Example In a prison there is lot of limitations for such things. "In the past, the provision of dental services in prisons has been of variable quality. For this reason, the Strategy for Modernising Dental Services for Prisoners in England was published in 2003. Every Prison was required, in consultation with the local primary care trust, to develop a Dental Action Plan for improving their dental service. 4.75 million over three years was allocated towards the implementation of these plans." (Harvey, S. et al. 2005). The authorities must provide dental check up for at least 200 to 250 prisoners per week. The dental service needs to be universal based on clinical needs and must provide all sorts of services to the patients, but inside the prisons it has certain limitations for providing all sorts of dental services. In case of trauma to the face or cheeks the person may present with severe bleeding and the prisoner should be taken to the emergency department, but this must be in line with the local health care provisions and according to the security policies in the prison. In acute dental pain is advisable to take the person to a dentist within 24 hours or at least to an appropriate practitioner within 24 hours. The prisoner needs routine follow up with in six weeks in all most every case and this is also restricted by certain prison policies. The incidence of untreated dental disease in pris... THE CHALLENGES The incidence of untreated dental disease in prisoners is much high when compared with that of the general population, so the dental health needs of prisoners is much high. Since the prisoners neglect their oral health for such a very long time the problem may in the most aggravated form. "While dental care is a critical component of overall quality health care, many prisoners enter correctional facilities in the United States with little history of good dental hygiene and even less history of access to dentists for routine dental examinations. As a result, the incarceration experience presents opportunities for inmates to receive quality dental care, often for the first time in their lives. Dental care delivered by correctional dentists is complicated, however, by the array of serious dental conditions and difficult to treat dental problems in clinical settings". (Vaughan, M.S. et al. 2006) The poor nutritional status may also aggravate the problem. Smoking must be prevented in high risk cases. "The higher proportion of drug users in prison compared to general population can also explain the greater need for dental treatment. Methadone users in particular have a high level of oral disease". (Rotary. et al. 2007)Another important problem is that the dental care sessions may be shorted by security problems. Other important issues in dental health care include the lack of space in prisons, insufficient staff for treatment, lack of funding for health promotion and outdated facilities for health care in prisons. A report published in Sage Journal describes that there is variation in dental care provided to the prisoners. "Forty-five