Dental treatment not simple: Professor

JAKARTA (JP): There is more than just getting a filling and a perfect set of teeth when going to a dentist. Yet dentists and patients are both guilty of neglecting aspects beyond aesthetic ones, a leading orthodontist says.

As the practice of making periodical visits to the dentist is now picking up among wealthier Indonesians, Hendro Kusnoto said yesterday that orthodontic treatment should be preceded by intensive studies to guard against new health problems.

Hendro, who was yesterday installed as a professor at Trisakti University's school of dentistry, pointed out that dentists often neglect the research required before surgery takes place.

"People have lately become more aware of their appearances. But if orthodontic corrections are made only for aesthetic reasons without considering the impact on other aspects of health, new problems will appear," he said.

Orthodontics is a branch of dentistry dealing with faulty tooth occlusion and its correction.

Any orthodontic or orthopedic treatment, he said, could change the whole chain of a patient's digestive and verbal system.

Advances in science and technology which has led to the development of expensive, sophisticated equipment used in orthodontic surgery, often cause dentists to forget the patient's interests and turn instead to a more commercialized orientation.

"Orthodontic treatment is not as simple as it seems," he said.

Hendro said there is currently a popular but incorrect view which sees sophisticated orthodontic treatment simply as fixing braces on a patient's teeth -- currently a somewhat popular trend among some Indonesians.

"Orthodontic treatment...involves knowledge about the complex growth and development process of the teeth and determines the major cause, or flaws resulting in, a malocclusion," he said.

Hendro explained that a correct diagnosis and analysis is vital because it would be the grounds to establish plans for technical dental treatment.

Therefore, he added, orthodontic treatment, which is conventionally aimed at improving facial appearances, would also have to take into account the side-effects of strain, dysfunction and pain on other nerve muscles.

Hendro graduated from Trisakti University's school of dentistry in 1968. He completed his graduate studies in Paris' Universite de Paris and Bandung's Padjadjaran University in 1972 and 1988, respectively.

Hendro, 55 years old, was initiated as a specialist in orthodontics during a 1978 National Congress of the Indonesian Association of Dentists.

In his oration, Hendro also said that there is now an ever increasing appreciation of the dentistry profession, specially with the World Health Organization (WHO)'s declaration of 1994 as the Year of Healthy Teeth.

WHO's decision is a boost to those in the profession in Indonesia because dentistry has not been given its due priority by the people in the country, he said.

He said the government, in this case the Ministry of Health, has now also recognized the importance of the people's oral health.

He stressed the need to give greater attention to malocclusion, which could lead to physical or even mental handicaps.

He estimated that the prevalence of malocclusion among Indonesian children is as high as 75 percent, and of these, 40 percent should be given curative treatment. (pwn)