Australasian Dentist Magazine Nov Dec 2021
Category 82 AustrAlAsiAn Dentist liniCal Why cosmetic injecting is DANGEROUS! B efore Botox, patients used to be at risk of dentists seeing them as just a walking set of teeth and gums. now, more than a decade later, are patients at risk from those who see them as just a walking set of wrinkles ripe for cosmetic exploitation? The Dento-Facial Health & Aesthetic concept twelve years ago, AADFA (www.aadfa. net) developed the term “Dento-Facial Health & Aesthetics”. this concept outlined how dentists and dental practices could expand their services beyond the oral cavity, stepping into a broader facial health screening, prevention, and maintenance role. A focus on health first, with aesthetic improvement being a natural consequence, allowed highly skilled dentists to successfully offer patients a higher level of care across the dento-facial region; setting themselves as the industry gold standard. this concept, together with a ground- breaking training pathway which made it a reality, was not only new to the profession of dentistry, but a revolutionary philosophy and approach compared to that of the existing facial cosmetic industry, mostly led by nurses. since training of medical doctors and nurses had been [and still is], largely driven by the representatives of cosmetic product manufacturers, there was no commitment to providing a comprehensive, quality education, with most practitioners participating in just a few hours of rudimentary training, before being let loose on the unsuspecting public. Possibly the biggest issue with such an approach is that the goal of a product manufacturer is not that of a responsible health practitioner. Focused purely on sales, the philosophy of getting practitioners to simply use more product prioritizing revenues over quality, and utilizing direct-to-consumer marketing to tap into insecurities about appearance, certainly achieved its goal of building a multi-billion-dollar industry. What, unsurprisingly, suffered though, was reputation and clinical outcomes. the cosmetic industry gained the reputation by Myles Holt, BDs, llM, (Health & Medical), Msc (Aesthetic Medicine), FiADFe of being cowboy country and it can still be, with many practitioners sticking to an antiquated and dangerous cosmetic; anti-wrinkle; youth-restoring; product driven approach. seemingly every week professional reputations and that of an entire industry are torn to shreds in media headlines and what’s worse, images of poor patient outcomes haunt the internet. Yet rather than change their ways in the face of all this negativity, the cosmetic industry largely doubled down. Proving that often commonsense is no match for practitioners and companies' intent on making a quick buck by praying on insecurities around perceived beauty. it’s still common to see messaging around generating bigger, voluptuous (sometimes comical) lips, prioritized over achieving healthy, properly functioning lips that would then naturally look better. AADFA recognized these problems in the broader cosmetic industry and developed a philosophy and comprehensive training pathway which positioned the attainment and maintenance of optimal health, center stage. By focusing on improving the health and quality of the facial tissues as health practitioners, an aesthetic improvement will naturally follow. even though the primary goal of some patients may be aesthetic improvement, long-lasting, optimal clinical outcomes, and the avoidance of complications, can only come from the establishment of good health as the primary focus. the many thousands of dentists, who have completed the AADFA training Pathway, are aware of just how powerful and reassuring this philosophy is when incorporating extra-oral facial services, like Botox and Dermal Fillers, into practice and it has helped them stay ahead of the pack. in reality, it’s no different to what good dentists do every day – you would never dream of placing a swath of veneers in a mouth that was fundamentally unhealthy. in the same way, you would never just learn to perform crowns and bridges and ignore every other aspect of patient need that should be incorporated into a complete treatment plan. Yet that is what Cosmetic injecting is all about and despite the well-documented issues, some new, inexperienced, and misguided dentists seem set to repeat the mistakes of the past by following cosmetic injectors down the rabbit hole. The new cosmetic injecting danger AADFA’s health-based approach to dento-facial aesthetics, has proven so successful in overcoming the problems of the industry past, that AADFA is now called upon to teach it to doctors, nurses and plastic surgical specialists who are looking to press re-set and adopt a more responsible approach to patient care. Yet while the broader industry is progressively moving away from a cosmetic and anti-wrinkle focus, Myles Holt
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