A Consultant in Periodontology, Dr Emma Vasco, has cautioned Ghanaians to stop using their teeth as bottle openers as this causes deep fractures, resulting in the loss of teeth.
At an oral screening exercise organized by the Greater Accra Regional Hospital (GARH) in Accra to mark the World Oral Health Day (WOHD) on Wednesday, she said such acts only caused fractures with unbearable pain.
Dr Vasco, who works at the Dental Department of the GARH, said the use of toothpicks in between the teeth also destroyed tissues around the teeth which caused gum diseases.
She said although necessary, Oral health remained a neglected part of person-centred health care and wellbeing.
“In Ghana, dental caries, commonly known in Ghana as “Kaka” is one of the common oral diseases reported at the dental clinics,” she said.
Dr Vasco advised the public to visit the dental clinic at least once a year to clean and have their mouth examined for early detection of oral diseases, as only a few people voluntarily had their teeth checked.
Madam Faustina Langpuur, a Registered Dental Nurse at GARH, also urged the public to avoid brushing with hard toothbrushes as it could result in poor gum health, saying, usually, we recommend a medium brush for adults and a soft brush for children.
“Taking in alcohol and tobacco causes oral cancers as it destroys the gum and teeth, oral disease can affect any part of the body, including the health of an unborn baby,” she said.
For good oral hygiene, Madam Langpuur asked the public to visit a dentist regularly, brush their teeth with toothpaste, containing fluoride twice a day; preferably morning and evening, avoid the use of tobacco and alcohol, adopt a healthy diet low in sugar, and rinse the mouth with water after every meal.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) Regional Director for Africa, Dr Matshidiso Moeti in a regional address on the WOHD said oral cancer and tooth loss, remained prevalent in the WHO African Region, affecting about 44 per cent of the population.
She said, “Despite the innovative measures of our regional team, our region has had the largest increase in cases of major oral disease in the past 30 years of WHO’s six regions.”
She commended Burkina Faso, Lesotho, Mali, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone for developing and implementing national oral health policies in 2023.
“On this World Oral Health Day, we call on multilateral and bilateral stakeholders, and the non-health sector and the private sector, to join hands with ministries of health in driving a multi-sectoral response to the region’s silent epidemic of oral diseases,” she said.
World Oral Health Day is observed on March 20 every year to raise awareness of good oral health. This year’s theme is, “A happy mouth is a happy body.”
GNA.
