Experts want oral illnesses recognized as Non-Communicable Diseases

Burden of oral disease is high and still increasing even among children estimated at about 90 percent

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Oral health practitioners have urged the government to recognize and give attention to oral diseases just like other Non-Communicable Diseases such as cancer and heart disease.

The practitioners who were commemorating the World Oral Health Day on Monday shared data from the Health Management Information System (HMIS) which indicated that over 95 percent of Ugandans suffer dental caries (decay) at one point in their lifetime.

Dr Juliet Nabbanja Katumba, the Commissioner of Oral Health said that although the burden of oral disease is high and still increasing even among children which is estimated at about 90 percent, little attention is given to these infections in as far as strengthening interventions against NCDs are concerned.

Because little attention is given to oral health, she says health workers are reporting that they end up unnecessarily conducting teeth extractions even in cases where the teeth could be saved due to a shortage of usables for refills and sometimes more advanced treatment procedures such as root canal therapy. The same data from HMIS shows the most commonly given dental service across the country is extraction.

To date, dental care materials such as cement for refills are not among the essential health commodities that the National Medical Store supplies to health facilities.

Dr Charles Olaro, the Director of Clinical Services in the ministry said they are aware of the growing crisis of oral disease but they are first ensuring that all health facilities from the lower level to the national referral have the human resource that can handle those diseases.

At the level of a health centre IV, he says there is supposed to be a provision of the dental public health assistant. Later, when the ongoing restructuring is complete, he says they will then consider having dental surgeons.

However, while all this is in the plan, the real prevalence of dental problems and other oral diseases is unknown as no comprehensive survey has ever been done to determine this. Also, the number of professionals to provide the service is still too small for a population of 45 million Ugandans.

According to Dr Katumba Ssentongo, the Registrar Uganda Medical and Dental Practitioners Council-UMDPC, there are only 375 dental surgeons licensed to practice, six oral surgeons, three orthodontists, four prosthodontics and three specialists who are qualified to do teeth refills.

This puts the dentist to patient ratio too low at 1:220,000 patients and yet the World Health Organisation recommendations is a dentist per 4,000 people.

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