2013 Press Releases
The quest for pearly whites over a 100 years…
Records over a 100 years at the University Dental School and Hospital, Cork show that cosmetic dentistry is a not new phenomenon according to Professor Finbarr Allen, Dean.
“Older generations of patients were also very interested in the appearance of their teeth, and many would have electively had their natural teeth extracted to have them replaced by pearly white dentures,” he says. “In some cases, this was undertaken by women prior to getting married. It is still the case that patients with full dentures request ‘white’ teeth when having their dentures replaced, and this is driven by their cosmetic demands.” Cosmetic dentistry and other issues were discussed at a conference of UCC dental graduates who converged in Cork from all over the world to celebrate the centenary of the Cork Dental School and Hospital in 2013.
The Cork Dental Hospital has over 60,000 patient visits per year and the demand for dentistry over the past 10 years has grown substantially. “Increasingly, there has been a demand for treatment aimed at making teeth look better and for ‘cosmetic’ dentistry. Research by Professor Allen and colleagues (published in the academic journal Gerontology), has also shown that there has been a generational change in the demand for treatment. Older adults, i.e., those over 65 years, are more likely to accept what is prescribed for them and less likely to seriously question the treatment provided for them. However, this is changing. “Adults under 65 years will, in future, expect to have a much greater say in the decisions made around their healthcare,” Professor Allen says. “In oral health terms, they are also more likely to request treatment aimed at preserving their teeth.”
“This is a fundamentally altered relationship between patient and healthcare professional, and an indicator of the type of dentistry which will be practiced in future years. This includes a move away from removable dentures and an increasing demand for more complex forms of treatment aimed at retaining diseased teeth. We clearly need to continue to develop our understanding of the needs and demands of an aging population for dental treatment,” says Professor Allen.
Read more in the Irish Examiner and see the UCC video
http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/dental-history-that-you-can-get-your-teeth-into-224374.html
Professor Allen talks about the Centenary
See photos of the Centenary Dinner in the Aula Maxima