Fluoride Smile Poem by Paula Glynn

Dentistry a medicinal matter from the start of time
Also known as dental medicine and oral medicine
A process to diagnose, prevent and treat diseases
Conditions of the oral cavity - the mouth
Commonly the dentition:
The development and arrangement of teeth
The oral mucosa and adjacent
Related structures and tissues
The practitioner a valuable dentist

Dentistry to also understand
The subsume the largely defunct
Medical speciality of stomatology:
The study of the mouth
And its disorders and diseases
The two terms used interchangeably
For example in Australia
Stomatology is considered part of dentistry

The usual dental team to be
A dentist and dental auxiliaries:
Basically dental assistants
Dental hygienists
Dental technicians
Dental Therapists
Working in private practices
Working in dental hospitals
Known as primary care
Also working in secondary care:
Institutions like prisons
Armed forces bases and other

Dentistry going back to 7000 BC
And to 5500BC
A skeleton from Mehgarh [now Pakistan]
Evidence showing teeth drilled with flint tools
To remove decay and surprisingly effective
Dentistry thought to been first specialization
In medicine to have its own accredited degree
With its own specializations

Modern dentistry using high quality research
And using manual tooth conservation
Use of fluoride water treatment
Fluoride toothpaste
Which is advised to be used twice a day:
Once in the morning and once at night
To deal with tooth decay and periodontitis
As well as systematic diseases
Such as osteoporosis, diabetes
Celiac disease, cancer, HIV/AIDS
Which could also affect the oral cavity

The term dentist to come from
The French word dentiste
Which comes from the French and Latin for tooth
Odontology is the study of the structure
Development and abnormalities of the teeth
Vital knowledge to healthy teeth

The World Health Organisation
To say oral diseases to be major
Public health problems
Due to their high incidence
And prevalence across the globe
The disadvantaged more affected
Than those with a lot of money

Tooth decay and gum disease
To be the most treated dental problems
Also restoring teeth, extracting teeth
Scaling and root planning
Root canal treatment and cosmetic dentistry
All common practices
At your local dentist

Dentists to spend years studying:
Going from secondary school to three years
Of undergraduate studies
And to nearly all complete
A bachelor's degree
DDS - Doctor of Dental Surgery
DMD - Doctor of Dental Medicine
Many specialities of dentistry
To be available to the dentist

John M. Harris to start
The world's first dental school
In Bainbridge, Ohio
On the date of 21 February 1828
Now being a dental museum

The first dental college
Opened its doors in Baltimore, Maryland, US
The year 1840, the college advancing
Dental science and dental treatments
Plus other dental education establishments
Opened their doors in America:
From the years 1845,1852 to 1907

This meant different techniques
In the field of dentistry:
Therefore not all oral treatments
Were the same for everyone in America:
Even across the world

And so we come to The British Dental Association:
Formed in 1880 with Sir John Tomes
As president
The organization prosecuting
Dentists practising illegally
An important law
To protect the public from charlatan dentists
And now we have the General Dental Council
The council - again - protecting the public

Some people to hate the taste of mint:
So unable to use mint tasting toothpaste
Strawberry toothpaste worth a look
And do teach your kids by the book:
Tell them to brush their teeth twice a day, daily
And give them rewards when the tooth fairy comes
Because your kids can have white teeth
Even if they sometimes indulge in sweets
And if your kids don't like mint
Strawberry toothpaste will help
Because we all have the right to perfect teeth.