2024 Steveston Smiles Scholarship WINNERS !
FIRST PLACE WINNER: KATIE
Why is Oral Health Important?
Oral Health plays a huge role in everyday lives. Humanity has made entire careers around this philosophy, Dentistry, orthodontics, otolaryngologist in the medical fields. Chefs, food connoisseurs, food critics all rely on fantastic oral health in order to not only properly do their own jobs but rely on oral health experts to make sure that people can enjoy their food as well. All of these modern jobs rely on trustworthy dentists and technicians to provide proper oral health. Ancient civilians created the first toothbrushes, ancient Babylonians and Egyptians, because they knew of this importance. They fashioned toothbrushes from frayed twigs or made “chew sticks” for better breath. For thousands of years we have had solutions to fix our general oral health.
As a kid, I had crooked teeth and an overbite. I had braces and retainers for years and when I entered high school I felt so incredibly awkward like many teenagers before me. For years I didn’t like smiling with my teeth. I looked up at older girls with pretty and straight teeth and my tight-lipped smile stayed shut for a while. When I finally got my braces off, I got some of my much needed confidence back. I was talking to new people and wasn’t scared of a weird lisp or my gums bleeding in school. I was smiling in pictures now and I felt pretty, which for a teenage girl in high school is rare, trust me. Dentists and orthodontists not only gave me better functioning teeth and a healthier mouth, but gave me some of my confidence back too. I know this is true for millions of other kids around the world and they are thankful for it.
As I go into nursing at Langara College in the fall, I’ll be learning about the importance of oral health first hand. It’ll be a big part of my job as a nurse, not only providing medical care but also helping patients in the little things that are just as important. Helping patients brush their teeth and floss while needing hospital care for example. Good oral health isn’t just preventing cavities but so much more than that. It ensures people can eat, chew and breathe properly, the mouth is the entrance way into the digestive and respiratory system. It’s crucial that it is healthy and well taken care of. It connects to the vocal cords and ensures that people can speak and communicate properly. Without great oral health and proper maintenance, all these systems that are necessary for life would be at risk.
In conclusion, I’d like to thank all the wonderful oral professionals in my life who gave me my smile back.
SECOND PLACE WINNER: LYLA
Why is Oral Health Important?
Why oral health is important. Taking good care of your oral health can affect many aspects of your life. To name a couple; it can affect how people see you in first impressions and your overall health, mental and physical. To begin, first impressions are huge. For example, if you have a job interview where you want to present yourself in an upbeat, professional manner, you would typically smile and be outgoing. If you have bad teeth with lots of built-up tartar, excessive amounts of yellow or black teeth or overly crooked teeth, and smile at the interviewer, there could be a multitude of negative thoughts going through their mind. They may think that if you can’t do something as simple as brushing or taking care of your own health, you may not be able to handle the responsibilities of the job you’re applying for. Also, if it were a job in customer service they may be worried about the impression left on their clientele. Having bad oral health can close many doors of opportunity for future endeavours.
Furthermore, your oral health can affect your overall health immensely. Aside from the plethora of oral diseases, bad oral health can lead to many issues through the bloodstream like bacteria in the heart causing inflammation, kidney disease, and although rare gum disease can cause clots on heart valves as well as potential risk of diabetes. To explain further, gum disease makes your gums inflamed and inflamed parts of the body cause it to create higher blood-glucose, leading to a higher risk of diabetes. Adding onto the inflammation problems caused by gum disease, which is caused by bad oral hygiene; the inflammation can lead up into your brain in some cases and induce neurodegeneration, something that plays a big part in Alzheimer’s.
Additionally, ones mental health can change due to how well you take care of oral health as well. When your oral health starts to diminish, your mental health can go along with it. You may become insecure or more cautious of how you smile at others, how you eat, how you speak, etc. It can be a slippery slope, much like mental health. If you’re more cautious of these aspects of your life you could become more quiet, hold back your thoughts from being spoken aloud or simply pull yourself away from fun or new opportunities at risk of having your oral hygiene on display for people to judge. Whereas if you take care of your oral health and it’s not an insecurity that becomes so deep it affects what you do in everyday life, you can enjoy the little things and live freely with confidence. In conclusion, your oral health affects more than just your mouth, it affects your impressions upon others, your physical well-being, and your mentality, all reasons as to why it is important to take care of it.
