Janet Ogundepo
The president of the Nigerian Dental Association, Dr Tope Adeyemi, has revealed that the specialty is not exempted from the brain drain rocking the health sector as one dentist treats about 54,000 Nigerians, which is a far cry from the recommended ratio of 1:5,000.
He made this known in a statement sent to PUNCH Healthwise on Thursday as an offshoot of the World Oral Health Day commemorated on March 20.
The theme of this year’s WOHD is ‘A Happy Mouth is…A Happy Body’.
The NDA president noted that many rural areas suffer a near absence of dentists and oral health care services.
He said, “We wish to draw the attention of the Nigerian Government to the severely limited access to oral health care services in Nigeria, especially in the rural areas. Nigeria has an estimated population of 218,541,212 in 2022.
“This gives an estimated dentist-to-population ratio of 1:53,828. This implies that a Dentist is responsible for the oral health care of approximately 54,000 persons in Nigeria! This is far from the recommended ratio of 1: 5,000.
“This Dentist to population ratio is worse in the rural areas due to near absence of personnel and oral health care services in primary health care centres in the rural areas in Nigeria.”
The NDA president called for the inclusion of preventive oral care services such as scaling and polishing of teeth, fluoride therapy, dental filling, dentures and simple tooth extraction in the primary health care services of the National Health Insurance Authority.
Adeyemi said, “Currently, oral care services are mostly accessed as a secondary level of care in the NHIA. Additionally, there should be integration of oral health services into the primary health centres. Doing these will reduce the burden of common preventable oral diseases as well as save costs for dental expenditure.
“In addition, the NDA earnestly calls for multi-sectorial efforts to increase the capacity of training institutions for dentists. Incentives such as improved conditions of service and access to soft loans to establish dental clinics can greatly assist in curbing the brain drain of dentists.”
He further called for the creation of a Directorate of Dentistry in the federal and state ministries of health, to enhance the development and drive the implementation of oral health-related policies.
The dentist noted that the dentistry directorate was also needed to ensure the required implementation of the full integration of oral health care into primary health care and to facilitate the provision of urgent oral health care services, especially in underserved rural areas.
“On the provision of oral health services to underserved areas, the NDA through the ‘Talk to a Dentist’ programme brought oral health services to underserved and underprivileged communities. This downstream approach has greatly improved access to oral health services, and awareness and reduced the burden of oral diseases.
“Finally, all hands must be on deck with participation at multiple levels to achieve optimal oral health for all through promotion, advocacy, education, and development which the Nigerian Dental Association is auspiciously inclined and strategically positioned,” the oral health practitioner noted.
The dentist warned that untreated oral diseases could cause severe disability and death and reiterated the need for healthy oral hygiene practices like brushing morning and night with fluoridated toothpaste, stopping unhealthy lifestyles and a bi-annual dental check-up.
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