By Sola Ogundipe

In the bid to stop the menace of cavities and tooth decay in the country, leaders in dentistry and public health recently launched a national campaign in Abuja.

Spearheaded by the Alliance for a Cavity-Free Future, ACFF, the campaign called for national collaborative action to check the prevalence of the disorderr which is preventable and reversible in the early stages.

Tooth decay is the most common chronic disease in world, affecting five billion people, or nearly 80 percent of the world’s population.

Many nutritional problems will affect the mouth before the rest of the body because the cells in the lining of the mouth – called the oral mucosa – are constantly being created and destroyed with a whole new group of cells taking the place of old cells, in three to seven days.

Speaking at the launch, the Alliance Chairman and President of the Nigerian Dental Association, Dr. Olabode Ijarogbe said in line with the vision of the Oral Health Policy of the Federal Government to improve the oral health status of Nigerians, the Alliance intends to partner with key stakeholders in oral health in Nigeria to achieve a caries free population by the year 2026.

Ijarogbe said the Alliance is committed to stop caries initiation and progression and move toward a cavity-free future by working with countries to build on existing initiatives with a new understanding of caries as a disease continuum and to adopt comprehensive strategies for caries prevention and management.

Immediate goal of the alliance, he noted, is commitment to ensure that by 2015, 90 percent of dental schools and dental associations should have embraced and promoted the “new” approach of “caries as a continuum” to improve dental caries prevention and management.

“By 2020, regional members of the Alliance for a Cavity Free Future   should have integrated, locally appropriate, comprehensive caries prevention and management systems and monitoring approaches developed and in place while every child born from 2026 should stay cavity free during their life time.”

Highlighting ACFF focus area in Nigeria, Professor Nigel Pitts, of King’s College London Dental Institute, London, UK said the alliance will focus on manpower development with particular emphasis on the training of Primary Health Care workers; Oral health/caries awareness with focus on caries prevention; Revision of cariology aspects of undergraduate dental curriculum;   Common risk factor approach to caries prevention and Intervention research studies.

“We are partners in the fight against global tooth decay and committed to working synergistically to achieve the common goal that every child born from 2026 should stay cavity free during their lifetime,” he reiterated

They also discussed the development of comprehensive programmes for prevention and management of cavities in Nigeria. The ACFF is a worldwide group of experts promoting integrated clinical and public health action to stop caries initiation and progression in order to move towards a Cavity-Free Future for all age groups.