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In principle, preventive medicine is the opposite of curative or reparative medicine. The guiding principle of preventive medicine is: “Prevention is the best medicine”. But anyone who thinks that preventive medicine is synonymous with the general concept of preventive care is wrong. Because preventive medicine can and does so much more. A key measure here is the determination of risk factors, whereby the focus is on people as individuals.

The risk factors are diligently analyzed so that the results depict a precise picture of how you should behave in order to avoid these health complaints as much as possible. All of this follows the motto: “Prevention is better than cure.” The latter belongs more in the field of curative, established medicine. This only starts when the illness or health impairment has already occurred. Preventive medicine, on the other hand, primarily pursues the major goal of preventing such complaints from occurring in the first place. Preventive medicine distinguishes between three different areas of prevention:

Primary prevention

The main thing here is to protect your health. There are various options available for this, such as vaccinations, measures to prevent accidents, nutritional medicine or sports medicine. Preventive measures in the field of dentistry are also part of primary preventive medicine. For example, regular professional tooth cleaning is intended to prevent tooth decay and gum diseases such as periodontitis, because a beautiful smile is also part of a healthy person.

Secondary prevention

If an illness has already occurred, it is of the utmost importance that it is recognized as early as possible. This gives you the best possible chance of a cure, so that you can quickly get well again. Secondary prevention has therefore made the early detection of diseases a major goal. Measures in this field of prevention also include preventing or slowing the progression of a disease. A specific example of this would be promoting the health of sick people through micronutrient medicine or stress coping. Cancer screening, newborn screening and many other preventive measures for high-risk patients are also part of this prevention area.

Tertiary prevention

It is used when an illness has already manifested itself. This type of prevention is to be understood as damage limitation, which aims to prevent the progression of a disease and / or to avoid complications and consequential damage. It plays an important role for chronically ill patients in particular, so that they can continue to feel as comfortable as possible despite the illness and can look forward to their future with care. Preventive medicine offers rehabilitation stays and cures that support people in their recovery and make it easier for them to re-enter everyday life.