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Educating parents on oral health essential: Experts

Prevention and management of early childhood caries was the topic of discussion in the Prevention Model for the Dental Profession session of the Crest Oral B/P&G Professional Oral Health Symposium.

Dr Dina S. Debaybo, consultant and head of Paediatric Dentistry, Head Specialists Clinics, said a proposal has been presented to the senior health officials regarding the need for a National Oral Health Project.

“Through this project, we aim to approach women in the first stages of pregnancy, to be followed by a visit after the child is born, and then during vaccination period of the child,”said Dr Dina.

“This is just a proposal and a lot needs to be done before this idea takes shape,” she said.

“All these ideas need to be followed up by oral hygiene and a healthy diet,” she said, adding they were targeting children as young as one year to start oral health routines.

This proposal needs to be implemented before any other survey is carried out to find out the difference from the numbers found during the last survey carried out in 2003.

She said prevalence of caries in children, especially five-year-olds, suggests that the incidences of the disease remained quite high.

The oral health statistics in the UAE suggest that 70-80 per cent of the population suffers from dental cavities. “We must take action to inform our children about the advantages of long-term oral health, because the consequences of neglect are serious,” she said.

“Children with caries face several problems, including pain and loss of chewing capability. Caries also affect the looks and speech with some not able to pronounce some words,” said Dr Dina.

“We have a high number of emergency cases of children with severe spontaneous pain. This is a disruptive pattern in the child’s lifestyle which affects his/her day-to-day activities.”

The conference is being held at the Dubai International Convention Centre (DCCI) till October 27.

• UAE