The increasing incidence of dental caries, otherwise known as tooth decay and periodontal (gum diseases) has become a source of worry to experts reason being that greater percent of all tooth-related issues emanates from poor oral hygiene.
According to submissions made by experts in a scientific conference on oral health, dental caries is a major oral health problem in most industrialised countries, affecting 60 to 90 percent of schoolchildren and the vast majority of adults, while periodontal has been found to be between 79 to 90 percent of the Nigerian population.
Oyinkan Sofola, consultant community dentist, Preventive Dentistry Department, Lagos University Teaching Hospital, revealed that the concern for the experts is that the majority of the caries are untreated resulting in ultimately pain and tooth loss.
According to Sofola: “We have a prevalence of about 90 percent untreated caries. More importantly is the early childhood caries. We tend to see caries in children. We have a prevalence of 6.5 to 22.5 percent. Over 95.6 percent of early childhood caries is untreated. On the global average, we have a global prevalence of 35 percent of untreated caries. Nigeria is not doing much, her case is worse than the global average of untreated caries.
“On the other hand, periodontal disease (gum diseases) has been found to be between 79 to 90 per cent of the Nigerian population. What we are saying is that all the studies that have been done between 1960s till date reveals that we have a lot of periodontal disease in Nigeria. If we have a lot of periodontal disease in Nigeria and this is being linked to systemic disease, then we have a lot of work to do because this might lead to increasing morbidity in the nation.”
Shedding more light on the issue, Bode Ijarogbe, national president of Nigerian Dental Association, explained that diet and time factor play major roles in development or care for caries. He posited that the type of diet taken, especially those with high refined sugar and the time the diet stays in the mouth are major causes of dental caries, advising that it was best to abstain from such diets or better still, take them with meals.
Read also: Could record slide in crude oil price be ending?
According to Ijarogbe, “Normally, we have bacteria in our mouth. The bacteria works on this refined sugar to produce a dilute acid which result in dissolution of hard tooth tissue. Each time we take a lot of all these high refined sugar, it retains as substrate at different corners in our mouth and then the bacteria in our mouth feeds on them to cause havoc. Sometimes, it also results in swollen gum which bleeds each time you touch it.”
Ijarogbe explained that tooth decay sometimes degenerates to abscess formation, which is why some people develop swollen gums with swollen jaws as a result of puss forming because of tooth decay which has come down to the base of the tooth.
Another problem that emanates from poor oral hygiene is bad breath. This is evident with an individual with pockets of infection in the mouth, and these infections results from accumulated food remnants that are not cleaned. Although other factors like: systemic diseases such as lung, kidney or liver diseases are also known to cause bad breath but the most common is poor oral hygiene.
Experts say the good news is that dental caries and periodontal diseases are both preventable and treatable. The experts submitted that while evidence on the link between these diseases and oral hygiene are still being gathered, preventing periodontal disease is cheaper than treating cardiovascular diseases at the maturity stage, thus the need to take oral hygiene seriously.
The Federal Ministry of Health (FMOH), is basing oral healthcare in Nigeria on the oral health policy developed by the ministry and approved by National Council on Health, Federal Executive Council and endorsed by National Economic Council.
Adebimpe Adebiyi, head of dentistry division, FMOH and chief dental officer of Nigeria, stated that the oral health policy has six priority areas with oral health promotion being the foremost of the priorities.
She posited that findings by the ministry revealed that dental caries is a problem in this country, which is why the ministry is embarking on a national oral health promotion campaign with the realisation that most of the Nigerian populace do not have oral health awareness.
“The ministry is of the belief that oral health awareness among the populace can lead to a change in oral hygiene,” she said.
As a foremost manufacturer in the business of addressing health issues, Unilever Nigeria plc, keyed into the plans of the FMOH oral health policy by creating awareness and providing platform for research to finding lasting solution to oral health problems in Nigeria.
According to George Umoh, brand manager, Pepsodent, Unilever Nigeria, “it is in an attempt to address specific needs and solve everyday problem of consumers and in a bid to address the needs within the oral care sector that we have often rolled out products that impact on healthy lifestyle positively. So we have often manufactured the best products and make them available in the right places to deliver the best benefits to consumers.
“We are also collaborating with all stakeholders. As a foremost manufacturer who is often in the business of addressing health issues and the needs of consumers, Unilever Nigeria has been a foremost partner with the Nigerian Dental Association to deliver superior oral care to consumers and ensuring a cavity free Nigeria,” he said.
Join BusinessDay whatsapp Channel, to stay up to date
Open In Whatsapp
