Minister Scores Dental Practice Low

Dr Mohammed Pate, the Minister of  State for Health, says dental practice in Nigeria can best be described as “uncoordinated’’ in terms of its organisation and management.

Pate said this at a news conference held to commemorate this year’s World Oral Health Day in Abuja on Monday.

The minister also attributed the disorganised nature of dental practice to the low oral health awareness among the citizens and the general apathy toward oral health care.

Pate noted that there were misconceptions about oral health among the citizens, adding that the absence of a coordinated system for collecting data on oral health in the country was also not helping matters.

He noted that there was inadequate manpower to meet the oral health needs of the citizenry, while there was inequitable distribution of available oral health facilities.

“Today, there are seven accredited dental schools and about 4,500 registered dentists, including specialists in various fields,’’ he said.

Pate, however, said that the National Oral Health Policy for Nigerians, which was developed in collaboration with the WHO, had been approved by the National Council of Health in May this year.

He said that the goal of the policy was to achieve optimum oral health for at least 50 per cent of Nigerians through sustainable public awareness creation, strategic research, manpower development and coordination of oral health activities.

The minister urged oral health personnel to be willing to become change agents in the campaign to promote oral health in the country.

Pate noted that many people were not aware of the need to go for regular dental checkup, at least twice a year.

“It is time for a paradigm shift; there should be a re-orientation of all health workers towards promoting oral health.

“Nigeria is faced with the burden of rising cases of non-communicable diseases. Oral health has not received adequate attention in this regard and it is time to incorporate oral health into the centralism of health care,’’ he noted.

Also speaking, Dr Christopher Fox, Executive Director, International Association for Dental Research, stressed the need to involve communities in public awareness campaigns on oral health.

“There is also the need for practitioners to create awareness about oral health among people in the communities,” he said.

The theme of this year’s World Oral Health Day is “ Your Mouth and You’’.