It is estimated that oral diseases affect nearly 3.5 billion people.
Oral diseases, while largely preventable, pose a major health burden for many countries and affect people throughout their lifetime, causing pain, discomfort, disfigurement and even death, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
Untreated dental caries (tooth decay) in permanent teeth is the most common health condition according to the Global Burden of Disease 2019.
In the Philippines, the 2006 National Oral Health Survey (NOHS) revealed that 97.1 percent of six-year-old children suffer from tooth decay.
Serious public health problem
The Department of Health (DOH) said that oral disease continues to be a serious public health problem in the Philippines. Mainly, the oral health problems are dental caries (tooth decay) and periodontal disease (gum disease).
These two oral diseases are so widespread that 87 percent of Filipinos suffer from tooth decay and 48 percent have gum disease based on the 2011 National Monitoring and Epidemiological Dental (NMEDS) Survey.
The combined ill effects of these two major diseases, although not considered killer diseases (except oral cancer), weaken bodily defense and serve as portal of entry to other more serious, potentially dangerous and opportunistic infections overlapping other diseases present. Serious conditions include arthritis, heart disease, endocarditis, gastro-intestinal diseases, and ocular-skin-renal diseases.
Aside from physical deformity, these two oral diseases may also cause disturbance of speech significant enough to affect work performance, nutrition, social interactions, income, and self-esteem.
School performance
Poor oral health, the DOH said, poses detrimental effects on school performance and mars success in later life. In fact, children who suffer from poor oral health are 12 times more likely to have restricted-activity days (USGAO 2000).
In the Philippines, toothache is a common ailment among schoolchildren, and is the primary cause of absenteeism from school.
Dental and oral diseases create a silent epidemic, placing a heavy burden on Filipino schoolchildren.
Vice President and Education Secretary Sara Z. Duterte is pushing to implement mandatory toothbrush drills for the school year 2024-2025.
Duterte stressed the importance of dental health and spreading awareness among learners as part of the holistic program, which aims to mold the character and well-being of the children for once neglected, may pose risks if they reach adulthood.
“We will teach you life skills, service, values, in the basic education program and that includes good hygiene and toothbrush drills,” Duterte recently said in a television interview, adding that it is also part of her personal advocacy that she learned from her father, former President R. Rodrigo Duterte.
Treatment
The DOH said that dental caries is treated by removing the decayed tissue and then placing a filling in the cavity to restore the tooth function.
If not treated early, these children become susceptible to irreversible periodontal disease as they enter adolescence and approach adulthood.
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