Nigerian launches National Oral Health Policy

Nigerian launches National Oral Health Policy

Wednesday, 14 November 2012 15:42 Alexander Chiejina

A new policy to promote oral health has been launched, two years after its first draft, even though prevalence of periodontal diseases exceeds 50 percent.

The National Oral Health Policy, which is in line with international standard, focuses on priority areas as oral health promotion, training/human resources development, service delivery, research, monitoring and evaluation, information and communication technology, including oral health information system.

Briefing journalists on the second edition of the National Oral Health Week, Fatimah Bamidele, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Health, who represented the Minster of Health, said that the policy was endorsed by the National Council of Health and the Federal Executive Council.

The Minister said that the journey to this stage commenced on 18th November, 2010 when the technical working group and the ministerial steering committee on the improvement of oral health in Nigeria was inaugurated.

He said that the 10-man technical working group produced a draft policy, which was duly reviewed by the various stakeholders. The minister said other programmes backing up the approved national policy included re-equipping of federal dental facilities and other oral health promotional activities.

According to the minister, provision of basic dental equipment and instruments are currently being procured for at least one federal tertiary hospital and its outstation in each of the geopolitical zones.

While there is no available statistics to show the prevalence of periodontal diseases in the country, Adebimpe Adebiyi, Head of Dentistry, Ministry of Health lamented that need for oral healthcare across the country was huge and unmet as most people are not aware the mouth is a gateway to the body.

“The mouth is part of the human anatomy, and sometimes symptoms of disease show in the mouth that can be detected by the dentist. Some diseases which have oral manifestations can also be detected, and any further test will just be to confirm,” Adebiyi said.

While visits to dental clinics are not as often as health experts would want, Adebiyi suggests that brushing the mouth twice daily and extra rinses immediately after meals will keep the teeth clean and free from germs.

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