Oral Health Week was officially launched on Monday at the Acute Psychiatric Unit Conference Room at the Princess Margaret Hospital.
The week of activities will be hosted under the theme: “A Healthy Body Starts With A Healthy Mouth”.
The Dental Unit of the Ministry of Health has partnered with Jolly’s Pharmacy to host this year’s activity.
Chief Dental Officer Dr. Idaline John said: “Maintaining proper oral hygiene needs to be seen as a worthy health goal preventing tooth decay, gum disease and even bad breath we know nobody likes a foul mouth.”
She said the loss of teeth is a classic result of gum disease and thus there is a long-term importance attached to having a healthy mouth.
Dr. John added that mouth lesions are often times early signs of communicable and noncommunicable diseases.
“Both communicable and chronic noncommunicable such as AIDS and diabetes often show early manifestations as mouth lesions because don’t disease don’t directly lead to death as with oral cancer,” she said.
She noted that recent research has shown a strong relationship between oral health disease and cardiovascular disease.
Dr. John said that oral inflammation from gingivitis can contribute to poor arteries and blood clots which can lead to an increased risk of heart attack and stroke.
Dr. John stated that results from a local survey have shown an increase in gum diseases in various age groups.
“According to results of our recently conducted national survey among children age 6, 12 and 15, adolescent 16 to 19, adults 35 to 34 and 65 to 74 we have observed that the burden of oral disease particular caries and gum disease is severe in our country it has been observed that dental caries is prevalent among the various age groups,” said Dr John.
She noted that the survey reveals that once children have left the school dental programme they don’t return for regular checkups.
“Though disappointed we are not surprised with the survey’s results its shows why we persevered to get the survey done to know the oral health status of our population,” said Dr. John.
Meantime, the Minister for Health and the Environment Dr. Kenneth Darroux said: “Oral health, therefore, is a significant contributor to the quality of life and is affected by many social and economic lifestyle-related risk factors.”
He stated that this year’s Oral Health Week Campaign focuses on the importance of adopting a good oral hygiene routine and preventative dental care.
He said that proper dental care is important in all ages particularly young people between the stages of childhood, adolescent and early adulthood.
Dr. Darroux added that: “Dental decay and gum disease are among the most common the children and adult population however with early detection and intervention dental caries and periodontal can either be prevented or treated.”
while you are on oral health please check oral speech to see if there is a connection between bad breath and bad speech. pay particular attention to bad speech like ” go to hell, its none of your dam business, no law no constitution will prevent me, this country is too free, go to church and call people traitors, and so on.
You all talking about dental week when you all won’t even take time to assess patients needs and help them..
Not surprised at the poor oral health of the population. Periodontal disease is so common and people are not paying attention to their oral health. They wait until they are in pain ,before they see a dentist .
how many people get six months check up and cleanings ,very few.
They loose their teeth eventually and still walk around without teeth ,not even getting some dentures or orther replacement.
It seems like it is a normal thing to walk around toothless.
It would be a good thing to get all the children’s teeth sealed to prevent decay.
Some people should not be allowed to do receptionist jobs if they are missing their front teeth.
Dental services are relatively affordable in Dominica , so there should be no excuse to poor oral health. Play your part .
There are so many good dentist in Dominica , like Dr. Cyril, John,Green, and some famous Dentist from Dominica , who do great work internationally , Dr. Finn, Dr. Rabess baron, Dr. Williams. etc.
So go see the Dentist .
Kudos to the Dental Team