Concern within health ministry over Dominica's dental health

A lack of proper dental care in Dominica is causing concern for the country’s Ministry of Health.

Last week the ministry’s Dental Health Unit launched Oral Health Week 2017, with the theme titled ‘A Healthy Body Starts with A Healthy Mouth.’

Minister for Health Kenneth Darroux explained that he campaign was focused on people adopting a good oral health routine and prioritising preventative dental care.

In keeping with the World Health Organization’s strategy, the Dental Unit has formulated an oral health policy to enhance the quality of service that is being delivered to the public.

“The standard procedures manual was updated and a recent survey was conducted to obtain empirical data to develop and make the necessary changes to the existing programmes that will enhance the quality of care to the population, Darroux said.

“Dental decay and gum disease are the most common among the children and adult population. However, with early detection and intervention dental caries and periodontal, which is gum disease, can either prevented or treated at a reduced cost.”

Dr Idaline John, chief dental officer, detailed the statistics gathered during a national survey among children (aged six, 12, and 15), adolescents aged 16 to 19, and adults aged 35 to 44 and 65 to 74.

She stated that findings from the survey revealed that oral disease, particularly caries and gum disease, is severe in Dominica.

The data also indicates that with the increase in age, incidents of cavities and missing teeth also increase.

“From the six-year-olds who participated in the survey, the score was DMFT, which is decayed-missed-filled-teeth, and the permanent ones were higher… 55.6% had decay and half of these children had decayed teeth which were untreated,“ she said.

“One-third of the 12-year-olds had dental caries, of these 31.3% had decayed teeth, with almost all untreated.

“58.8% of the 15-year-olds had decayed teeth and 47.6% were untreated; 63.1%, or two-thirds of the 16 to 19 [year olds] had dental caries and 48.6% had untreated lesions.

“Over 90% of our adults [over] 35 years had dental caries and about 65.8 had untreated lesions.

“95.6% of those 65 to 74 [years old] had dental caries and 65.9% had untreated lesions.”