Make teeth examination mandatory before admission — MP (Junior Graphic )

July 1-July 7, 2009


THE Member of Parliament (MP) for Ayawaso East, Dr Mustapha Ahmed has said that one sure way of promoting child oral health is to make it mandatory for school-going children to show proof of dental examination before admission to school.
He said just as children have to show proof of innoculation against the six childhood killer diseases, examination of a child's teeth by school authorities before admission would encourage parents to take proper care of their children's teeth.
Dr Ahmed who is a dentist himself was addressing members of the Ghana Dental Association (GDA) at their 18 annual congress in Accra on Friday.
The congress was sponsored by Unilever Ghana Limited; manufacturers of Close Up and Pepsodent toothpaste. It was on the theme "Oral Health of the Ghanaian Child-Our Concern".
The MP said "Benefits from this policy are many, including the education of parents about the need the for basic oral care and the adoption of regular dental visits for check up".
Dr Ahmed pointed out that poor oral health in children affected far more than just their appearance adding the "effects include pain, nutritional difficulty, tooth loss, less of sleep lack of, attention deficits, which could result in a child's poor performance in school and in life".
He said there was the need for stakeholders in the health service and other policy makers to work together and show more growing concern about the poor state of oral health for the Ghanaian child.
On her part, Nana Yaa Kissi, the Category Manager (Personal Care) of Unilever Ghana Limited said more than 50 million hours of school time was missed each year in the United States (US) because of dental problems.
"I do not have the equivalent figures in Ghana but I have reason to believe that this is fast becoming the case if not already the case", she stressed.