Oral health of adolescents

Adolescence is a period of life marked by important changes: physical growth and development, emotional changes, the search for one’s own identity and an evolving role in society. Most of these changes will have an impact on health, also with respect of the oral cavity.

This contribution aims to give an overview of the problems faced by the adolescent (in general and more specifically related to the oral cavity) and the challenges for the dental professional (specific oral problems, challenge of communicating with adolescent patients). The main aim is to provide some useful hints for the follow-up of adolescent patients in everyday dental practice.

Specific oral health concerns in adolescents will include changes in caries risk, dental erosion, trauma, periodontal disease, tooth positioning and malocclusion, emergence of wisdom teeth and so on. On top of this, adolescents are interested in tooth whitening and oral piercings, and they will experiment with tobacco, alcohol and drugs. All of these can further endanger oral health. The dental professional will be faced with a variety of these problems and will need to provide preventive and therapeutic solutions adapted to the specific situation of the adolescent. This necessitates some insight into the world of the adolescent of today. This is especially true since it is known that oral health-related behaviours (e.g. brushing habits, smoking and so on) developed during adolescence are carried over into adulthood and continue to influence (oral) health later in life. This underlines the need for intervention in this age group. However, in this period of life everything is questioned and communication between adolescents and adults is often dramatic. Although the specific effectiveness of following up adolescent patients is recognised, it is remarkable how poor dental literature is with regard to this topic.