The Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), Abia state chapter, has risen from the 2019 World Oral Health Day to call on individuals to take charge of their own oral health inorder to prevent oral diseases and safeguard their overall health.
The World Oral Health Day (WOHD), which is a yearly event, provides an ideal platform to raise awareness and encourage action in favour of a good oral health.
With the theme for the year, “Say Ahh: Act on Mouth Health”, over three hundred students across 17 schools in Umuahia have been taught on how to maintain a healthy oral system.
Giving her address, the chairman NMA Abia, Dr Carol Iwuoha, said a robust healthcare system would create room for a healthy manpower to propel the development of the state.
According to Iwuoha, the WOHD campaign would position oral health professionals as key stakeholders in educating patients on the wider implications of protecting their oral health, as well as helping them recognize that preventive care is always the best option, adding that early detection and treatment are crucial to ensuring the best outcomes against oral disease and associated health complications.
She also revealed that the WOHD would encourage all stakeholders to work together to secure optimal oral health for all.
The NMA chief went further to disclose that as part of their corporate social responsibility they have organised a two day oral health outreach for students in Abia with correct and adequate information on oral health.
Iwuoha said the students would be given free dental screening apart from the public lecture they would receive.
She stated that their target is on the students because they are perceived as agent of change that could help transmit the message of oral health to those concerned.
While urging them to utilize the information gathered from the lecture, she enjoined the students to always maintain a healthy oral system by minding what they eat,drink and what they use in keeping their mouth clean, as 80% of the illness we suffer today is caused by oral disease.
Earlier the Commissioner for Education, Prof Ikechi Mgbeoji charged the students not to discard the information at their disposal but imbibe a clean healthy life.
The Commissioner who was represented by Dr Ngozi Ihekwumere, said already there are subjects in the school curriculum that teach students on personal hygiene and urged them to always brush twice daily so as to avoid mouth odour.
In an interview, the chairman of Nigerian Dental Association, Abia state, Dr Innocent Iwegbu, said it is important to call for oral health each year because a good oral health prevents ill health.
According to Iwegbu, the traditional method of keeping our mouth clean should not be discarded as they still remain the best for a good oral system.
He said our local chewing stick and any toothpaste with fluoride should be used for our day to day oral maintenance, adding that individuals should avoid in entirety teething powder and any tooth powder being hawked on the streets.
Iwegbu further advised a yearly visit to a dental Doctor for check ups.
Mrs Chuta Blessed, a Teacher in Ibeku High School 2, expressed joy over the seminar on Oral Health, saying it would go a long way in imbibing a healthy lifestyle on the students, promising they will take the message to other students in their school who could not attend the seminar.
She further begged for a course on Oral Health to be inculcated into the school curriculum.
