Dental problems on the rise among children

PIC: Experts say eating too much chocolate affects children's teeth. (Credit: AFP)

HEALTH | DENTAL

KAMPALA - Medics have expressed concern over the increasing cases of dental diseases among children.

Dental surgeons under their umbrella association, the Uganda Dental Association (UDA) attribute this to feeding children on foods with a lot of sugar.

The most common dental diseases include tooth decay, tooth pathology and gingivitis.

They warn parents against giving their children a lot of sweets, chocolate, biscuits and cakes.

Last week, dental surgeons organised and held activities intended to promote oral health in Uganda mainly in Kampala.

World Oral Health Day is celebrated every year on March 20 to emphasise the benefits of a healthy mouth. For the case of Uganda, oral health promoters resolved to mark a full week to highlight to seriousness of the problem.

It involved free dental services mainly in schools on top of sensitising school-going children.

Different health studies reveal that 90% of the world's population likely suffers from oral diseases in their lifetime.

Many of these diseases can be avoided with increased governmental, health association and society support and funding for prevention, detection and treatment programmes.

UDA president Dr Ayubu Twaha said dental diseases started increasing after the World War II when most parts of the world appreciated sugary foods, especially from industries.

Dr Winfred Nasolo, the Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) dental focal person, said dental health data from all the seven health facilities within the Authority showed that 60% of cases registered are children.

She said the prevalence rates remained high with about 50-100 cases registered at each of the facilities every day.

Nasolo said the situation was worse in Kisenyi slum, with over 100 cases registered daily at Kisenyi Health Centre.

She blamed the rising cases to the population ignoring on dental check-ups and treatment. Some people appear when the situation has deteriorated to tooth extraction.

The dental surgeons demanded that the government speeds up the oral health policy to address staffing and financing issues.

Ayubu said most parts of the country are deprived of dental health services since there are no dental staff in most health facilities.

The standard staffing ratio is one surgeon to 1,000 people, but it now stands at 1 to 80,000 in Uganda.

According to Ayubu, this has just improved from 1 to 130,000.

Maria Gorrette Nakyoni, a dental specialist at Jubilee Dental Clinic in Kampala, said people should embrace teeth treatment other than wait for the situation to get worse.

She advised people to always go for dental checkups at least every after six months.