‘COVID-19 has challenged oral health management’

Dr (Mrs) Oluyemi Ogundun is the chairman of the Nigeria Dental Association (NDA) Osun State chapter, which recently marked World Oral Health Day with a number of activities in Osogbo, the state capital. In this interview with Saturday  Tribune, she speaks on a number of dental management issues. 

CAN you tell us what the World Oral Health Day is all about and what Osun state people stand to gain from it?
20th March is recognised globally as the ‘World Oral Health Day (WOHD)’. This is an initiative of the FDI World Dental Federation, an organisation that brings together the world of dentistry with the aim of achieving optimal oral health for everyone. It is a day to challenge individuals, schools and youth groups to take responsibility for their own oral health.

Also, for oral health professionals to educate the populations they serve about the importance of oral health to general wellbeing. Moreover, it is another time to do advocacy to the governments and policy-makers to champion better oral health care.

What does Osun stand to gain in all this?
This impacts positively on individuals, families, communities and the entire state. This administration has made health its priority. Better oral health services will lead to the enhanced general well-being of the people of the state as the mouth is the window to the body.

Mouth odour is almost an epidemic, how would you advise people to go about curing or avoiding it? 
A healthy mouth gives a healthier body; it improves one’s self-esteem and self-confidence, with overall increased productivity and quality of life.

Regular dental checks by individuals assist in the prevention of some oral diseases. Early diagnoses and treatment also could reduce time spent on treatment, cost of management and minimizes disabilities e.g. dental caries malocclusion in children and oral cancers. Inappropriate management of dental pains could lead to an increase in absenteeism at work and could affect productivity and also the individual quality of life.

Oral health in seniors is having at least 20 standing teeth, in children, it is having 20 milk teeth and for a healthy adult is 32  teeth with zero cavities.

World oral health day celebration is used to educate people on more opportunities to manage some congenital diseases such as cleft lip and cleft palate and enlightenment on opportunities for standard restoration of missing teeth and rehabilitation.

Is there any challenge for oral health from COVID-19?
Covid -19 has severely affected oral health, its practice and training. In fact, the huge impacts are still ongoing as these have greatly challenged the profession. Since the pandemic started, many dental clinics have shut down and as such most people couldn’t access oral health care services thereby causing an increase in dental diseases especially those that would have been prevented during routine dental checkups like dental caries and periodontal disease.

Because of COVID, there is increased anxiety of getting infected in the dental hospitals by both the patients and the dentist. The face mask policy has greatly impacted oral health.

The use of face masks causes mouth breathing and this reduces the amount of saliva in the mouth hence an increase in the prevalence of halitosis (bad breath). Covid 19 has challenged the practice to start shifting towards globalization with the application of technologies in dental practice such as teledentistry and dental engineering.