By Gabriel Olawale

IT is no longer news that the world today is replete with emerging diseases. Oral and dental diseases remain part of the myriads of common chronic diseases afflicting millions of Nigerians, in particular. Hospital statistics show that its spread in terms of number of people affected had assumed the status of a silent-killer and public health concern.

Dental experts have said that maintaining good oral hygiene is one of the most important things people can do to ensure overall health apart from keeping their teeth and gums healthy. Studies have shown that healthy teeth do not only enables one to look and feel good, but makes it possible for one to eat and speak properly.

Overall health

To National President of Nigerian Dental Association, NDA, Dr. Olufemi Orebanjo, oral health is an important part of overall health as it shares common risk factors with other non-communicable diseases such as cancer, diabetes and heart disease, among others, and that is why oral disease like any other disease needs to be treated.”

Orebanjo argued that keeping a healthy mouth is an important part of living a healthy life. This is why experts recommend that good oral and dental hygiene habits for an individual should begin even before their first tooth.

In Nigeria, the first phase of Live Learn Laugh, LLL, an oral awareness campaign of FDI World Dental Federation and Unilever, aimed at increasing oral health education and promotion in countries worldwide, revealed that oral health awareness in the country is still poor.

The results/ observations of the First Phase of the awareness which was carried out between October 2005 and March 2009, and with 26,462 people examined, showed that Nigerians have poor knowledge of the job of a dentist as a majority have never visited dentists despite the array of oral health issues.

The majority of those who were observed to have dental caries and poor oral cleanliness claimed not to have any oral diseases or dental pain. About 76.4 per cent claimed to use only toothbrush and paste. Others used chewing sticks with other cleansing agents.

It further showed that availability and accessibility of dental facilities was inadequate and once daily mouth cleansing was common in the morning before breakfast.

However, in recognition of the fact that good oral care is a building block for health and well-being and that improved oral care begins at the grassroots level, Unilever, in collaboration with FDI World Dental Federation, is using LLL to make a difference in the area of dental care.

Last week, NDA joined the 40 participating associations from 38 countries to flag off the second phase of the programme in secondary schools across the country.

To pilot the new phase, a Preliminary Global Workshop was held in Hong Kong on June 16 and 17, 2010 with representatives of 12 national dental associations including NDA to obtain their feedback on the tools needed to advance local Live Learn Laugh.

Addressing no fewer than 500 students of The Ambassadors School, Ota, Ogun State, Orebanjo, an old student of the college, gave extensive oral health talk to the students with emphasis on the need to adopt good oral hygiene habits such as brushing twice daily using the right technique and dietary modification.

He advised them to cultivate eating snack on fruits and vegetables instead of confectionery as well as visiting a dentist at least twice yearly, among others.

Orebanjo stressed the need for daily preventive care such as proper brushing and healthy eating. This, he said, makes any oral health condition much less painful, expensive, and worrisome than treating conditions that are being allowed to progress.

He said the programme would be formally launched in Lagos on December 7, adding that the “goal of Phase II in Nigeria is to work to measurably improve oral health through twice daily brushing with fluoride toothpaste.”