Dental/Oral Healthcare precautions for Expats living in India

Doctor’s Advice for Healthy & Happy Living with Smile:

Changing your living space from one place to another is quite challenging. Moving from your home country to another may result in a drastic change in your lifestyle as well as dietary habits.

In dietary habits, there may be a shift from your staple foods, less or more access to processed and fast food, change in ingredients to new cooking styles, and an ‘eating out’ culture which can result in unforeseen effects on your body. Change in culture can bring change in your overall health including your oral health. Some of the changes that expats experience here in India which can have a negative effect on oral health are:

1. Spices: India is a country known for its various ranges of Spices. But these spices can cause staining of teeth and dental appliances specially ‘Turmeric’. It stains the teeth and also stains temporary dental crowns, Invisalign tray, retainer trays and elastics in orthodontic treatment.
2. Tobacco habits: India is the 2nd biggest consumer of tobacco in the world. Intake of tobacco has deleterious effect on dental health. It causes, bad breath, tooth discoloration, gum diseases, lowers success rate of dental implants, increased risk of developing oral cancers.
3. Harsh and humid weather: India is known for its harsh and humid weather which may result in drying and chapping of lips known as cheilitis. Excessive heat can cause lips to crack and dry patches may appear.
4. Poor air quality: Poor air quality and pollution in India causes asthma which is associated with increased risk of dental caries, gingival inflammation, and pH6 changes in the saliva. Chronic lung disease is highly linked to periodontal changes.
5. Increased intake of sweets: India is one of the biggest consumers of sugar sweeteners. Consumption of sugar is more in India which has a direct impact on dental cavities. Habit of eating sweets after every meal and more amount of sugar in sweets and sticky sweets can cause decay of teeth.

These factors have a huge effect on oral health making expats more susceptible to dental and gum diseases. So maintaining your oral hygiene while balancing moving internationally is of utmost importance. Due to these reasons a dental check up by a qualified dentist every 6 months helps in preventing these dental diseases. For your regular dental check-ups and treatment you can trust Aspen Dental, which is situated close to you in South Point Mall.

For more details you can visit their website www.aspendentals.com, and www.instagram.com/aspendentalindia

About the author:

Dr. Abhinav Kathuria received his training in conventional two-piece implants from Boston USA in the year 2010. He has also been trained in Immediate Loading Implants and pterygoid Implants by Dr. Henry Diedrich in Luxembourg. Dr. Kathuria completed his post-graduation in 2009 in the field of Periodontics and Oral Implantology. He has experience of more than 14 years in the treatment of various periodontal/gum diseases.

In furthering his quest for knowledge, has taken hundreds of hours of continuing education courses some of which include.  All on 4 Implants from Dr. Paulo Malo, Sedation in Dental Treatment by Dr. Srinivas Namineni, and many more. Apart from clinical practice Dr. Abhinav is actively involved in Academics and has been lecturing extensively. He has a number of national and international publications to his name.