Sophie Asianzu, a dentist with Yovela Dentals takes a client through dental care practices during the women's day dental health camp held at OPM grounds Arua city By Godwin Abedican

By Godwin Abedican

Arua

The public is being called upon to embrace individual dental and oral care practices so as to minimize on the rising cases of complications that come with improper dental and oral health.

During the recently celebrated international women’s day, Yovela Dentals in Arua city organized a dental camp to attend to the public concerning dental and oral challenges.

Sophie Asianzu, a dentist with Yovela Dentals in Arua City says, people have become so careless and pay little attention to oral hygiene which sometimes have led to dental complications. “Most people don’t brush their teeth properly and do not take care of their teeth well. In most cases we receive clients who report cases of holes developing in their teeth which are always as a result of eating too much sweet things. Among kids this is common with too much chocolate consumption. The best people need to do is to brush their teeth at least twice a day, that is, in the morning and before going to bed and also after having any meals or eating sweet things,” Asianzu explained.

According to her, these symptoms of holes in the teeth do not have any treatment that can heal them completely which is only handled by cleaning the nerves and removing them.

Dental care is medical care and hygiene related to teeth meant to give a good oral health with hygiene practices like brushing and flossing that help to keep one’s teeth strong and healthy for long, remove dental plague which causes tooth decay and gum diseases.

Sharing his ordeal, Simon Dramuke, a victim of dental health challenge says failing to seek early dental care cost him to having more complications with his teeth. “I have had a period of time when I experience a lot of pain from my teeth whenever I eat. I kept ignoring and taking pain killers. Later on, my teeth started bleeding. Whenever I eat or bite anything even if its not hard, blood would always come out. And because I did not seek help from others by sharing my pains I have now been told I need to look for money such that I can be helped by the use of machines, something I believe if I took an early step towards handling would not be the case,” Dramuke said.

Some of the most common diseases that impact oral health include cavities (tooth decay), gum (periodontal) diseases and oral cancer

Asianzu further cautions the public especially parents against allowing children to use tooth pastes meant for adults. “Kids toothpastes come with normal or regulated percentage of chemicals, while there are those that are meant for adults. You find that, since the kids sometimes do not brush or clean their teeth property, sometimes the chemicals remain in their teeth and accumulate, causing germs to develop which later on cause damage to their teeth,” she explained with concern.

Oral diseases are caused by a range of modifiable risk factors including sugar consumption, tobacco use and poor hygiene and their underlying social determinants.