In September this year, Manar and myself traveled to the beautiful city of Istanbul in Turkiye, to attend the FDI World Dental Congress. At the congress we were introduced to the 2025 World Oral Health Day campaign theme, A Healthy Mouth…is a Healthy Mind.
This theme can resonate with many as there has been a real focus on our mental wellbeing in recent years. In my first 4 years as the practice owner of Northvale Dental, I've been conscious about my own mental health and taking care of myself in many different ways to avoid burning out.
As a dental health professional, we always believe that prevention is always better than cure and that is the same approach we should take for our mental health. We need to notice early signs if we’re not doing well and find the time to step aside to reset and reassess the direction we’re heading towards.
The theme, A Healthy Mouth…is a Healthy Mind, focuses on the idea that prioritising your oral health leads to better mental health and quality of life. As dentists, educating our patients and the community about good oral health habits is a huge part of our practice because we witness the repercussions of dental neglect.
A mouth full of dental decay, gum disease and pain means time off work, the inability to eat properly and not being able to go about your daily routine will definitely have a severe negative impact on a person’s mental wellbeing and can also worsen someone’s dental anxiety.
That’s why we’ve always stressed the importance of your regular dental hygiene appointment so that we can identify issues when they are small and ensure you receive effective preventative care.
As we move into 2025, we’re going to focus on this theme and throughout the year will highlight ways we can improve our oral health in order to improve our mental health.
So look out for our monthly blogs, our posts on social media and maybe one or two funny tiktok videos from the team at Northvale Dental.
Until then, Keep smiling
Dr Safinah