Eighty per cent of children have gum diseases— A study shows

STUDIES conducted by the health sector have indicated that 80 per cent of schoolchildren have gum diseases, while 20 per cent of them suffer from dental caries.
The study also showed that poor oral health is most prevalent among the poor and vulnerable with poor children four times more likely to have dental decay in early childhood.
The Minister of Health, Mr Joseph Yieleh Chireh, made this known at the opening of the 20th Annual Dental Congress of the Ghana Dental Association (GDA) in Accra. The theme for the event was; “Comprehensive oral healthcare for all: Challenges and solutions”.
In a speech read on his behalf, the Minister of Health said, “to compound this problem, it is estimated that less than one in five children received even one preventive dental service in a year”.
He also pointed out dental diseases shared common risk factors with other diseases such as heart disease, hypertension and diabetes.
Those shared factors, according to the minister, included tobacco smoking, inappropriate diet, alcohol consumption, injuries, poor hygiene and exposure to ultra violet radiation.
He, however, indicated that the government was making efforts to reduce the trend adding, “We cannot achieve the aims of the “Better Ghana” agenda if we do not provide opportunities for good oral hygiene care”.
Mr Chireh said the Ministry of Health (MoH) had over the years, raised the profile of oral health within the health sector by emphasising its vital importance in all its programmes.
The President of the Ghana Dental Association, Dr Josephine Sackyefio, said apart from initiating treatment for patients, dental surgeons the duty to maintain the patients.
She said the MoH and the GDA had embarked on an accreditation of more health facilities to accommodate new and old dental surgeons.
However, Dr Sackyefio said the newly-accredited health facilities lacked basic logistics for effective oral healthcare delivery.
She, therefore, stressed the need for the provision of appropriate tools to all dental clinics in the country to enable them to provide the public with comprehensive dental treatment.