The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | At the closure of the Annual Dental Conference and Symposium on Friday, dental practitioners encouraged clinicians and the public to embrace preventive dentistry as a way of dealing with enormous expenses involved in treatment and unnecessary loss of teeth to caries.
Dr. Baker Nkulumbi, one of the dental practitioners says what they are seeing in clinics is a near oral crisis as people keep damaged teeth and only seek care when they start experiencing pain. He says this is partly happening because people are largely unaware of available prevention options.
He for instance mentions dental sealants, a procedure that can protect children’s teeth and costs as low as Shillings 100,000 in some facilities but is unknown to many people.
There is no recent data on prevalence of oral diseases in Uganda as no nationwide survey has been done. However, a study done at the Makerere University Medical School in 2015 put the prevalence of dental caries at 66% among adults and 32% among children of school –going age.
79 percent of the over 1800 participants who participated in the study reported eating sugary snacks, which is the biggest risk factor for oral diseases. This statistic, experts who attended the symposium organized by the dental students say has increased if one is to go by the cases received at clinics.
Just at the two- day free screening and treatment clinic held as part of the symposium, Dennis Kulazikulabe, a third year Dental Student and Chairperson of the symposium, said they found majority of the 386 people examined to have rotten teeth whose only remedy was to have them extracted.
He says tooth extraction should be treatment of last resort as it comes with its own complications to oral health and that a month after an extraction, the patient needs to get an artificial replacement to avoid displacement and eventual loss of the matching tooth adjacent to it.
However, with dental problems on the rise, several speakers at the event discouraged the use of mouth washes for fresh breath, saying these can destroy the good bacteria in the mouth and lead to complications like oral thrush and mouth ulcers.
They said washes should only be used with recommendation of an oral health specialist and not as a cosmetic one can acquire from a beauty shop or pharmacy counter. They also advised people to cut out sugary foods from their diets and ensure that whenever they eat them, they brush or floss immediately.
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