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Prof. Dr Isabel Martínez Lizán, who has been an iTOP lecturer since 2014, shares her views on prevention education.
Since 2016, I have been conducting hands-on oral hygiene workshops with students using iTOP’s T2T methodology.
The experience so far has been very positive. I have the good fortune to teach very important courses in dental training, at the beginning of their training, i.e. right after basic training. In this way, the student is very receptive to new knowledge without still being fixated on disciplines with a distinctly restorative character.
This would undoubtedly be good news. However, for such a programme to be successful, it is necessary that those responsible for the subject of prevention are willing to invest more time in teaching. It is a matter of students themselves acquiring good oral hygiene habits and a challenging level of competence.
The attitude is right. As mentioned earlier, when students are reached at the right time, they are very receptive to acquiring new skills. They tend to respond enthusiastically when an expert points out their shortcomings and the importance of becoming an expert in that area themselves.
This gives them the opportunity to be a reference for their future patients. It becomes a challenge for them. The hands-on approach also allows them to better understand the complexity it presents for individuals who, like themselves, are not intrinsically motivated to maintain good oral hygiene habits.
Although the interest in and evidence on prevention and oral health is very present in the professional environment, this unfortunately does not lead to a real change in the care activities of dental practices. The restorative-surgical attitude prevails. Prevention and health education identify them with dental hygienists without the personal involvement of many dentists.
The fact that no time is spent emphasising the importance of preventive activities, starting with oneself, is accompanied by the fact that visits related to oral disease prevention are not sufficiently appreciated. Very little time is spent on them. The quality is low. It is a vicious circle that is unfortunately difficult to break.
Ever since she studied dentistry at the University of Barcelona, Prof. Dr Isabel Martínez Lizán has devoted her career to the prevention of oral diseases. She continued studying oral public health at the University of the Basque Country (Spain) and pursued the PhD programme with a focus on the community water fluoridation program. As a dentist, professor and researcher, she became a board member in some of the most relevant European (ORCA) and Spanish (SESPO) Scientific Societies. Later on, she was in charge of the implementation of the new curriculum in the Faculty of Dentistry at the University of Barcelona. Today, she is involved in research and teaches innovation of prevention and minimally invasive dentistry.
