Hush & brush
Hello fellow readers, I’m back after a two-week break from writing, due to travelling and other work commitments. I’ve been getting myriad of emails, on the topics our avid readers want to read about and want me to write on. Therefore, for this week I’ve picked up oral health as the topic of discussion for this health column.
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Oral health or the oral hygiene, these terms in themselves are self-explanatory. They refer to the wellbeing and the healthiness of the dental zone of our body.
On the contrary, there’s a prodigious number of populace that fails to realise the repercussions of dental disorders. It is because oral hygiene has been deprived of our attention and time. Toothache is a nominal aspect of it.
Oral health veritably reflects and offers clues about our ‘overall health’! Baffled by this mystifying detail about how your mouth can affect your body? There’s a reciprocity, wherein, the oral hygiene affects our overall health and also there are explicit conditions that impinge our oral health.
Mouth’s defense mechanism
Our mouth is a porthole into the health of our body. It can exhibit signs of deficiencies and infections that we may possess. Much to our surprise, the sundry and systemic diseases that disrupt the general health of the body can be first detected by the presence of abrasions in the mouth or accompanying oral complications.
We are surrounded by some innocuous and some very conniving microorganisms. Our mouth combats with them every single minute. It is said that “Bacterial exchange while kissing is much safer than shaking hands”! Well, this clearly doesn’t imply we go around kissing instead of greeting each other with a hand shake.
It’d be a good idea to keep a sanitizer handy! Our body’s natural defence mechanisms along with a good oral hygiene routine such as flossing and brushing can put some nasty microorganisms at bay. However, without that aid, bacteria can invade at levels that might lead to oral infections, such as tooth decay and gum disease.
Our saliva plays a precise and substantial role in preventing quite a few oral infections. Saliva washes away food and neutralises acids produced by bacteria in the mouth, helping to protect us from microbial invasion or overgrowth that might lead to a disease. Therefore, note to spitters; save it, don’t spit it! For a healthy mouth one must practise good oral hygiene every day without fail.
This can be achieved by flossing daily and brushing your teeth twice a day with fluoride toothpaste, healthy diet, replacing toothbrush every two to three months, scheduling regular dental checkups and last but not least, avoiding tobacco.
Kinship between the oral health and the overall health
As mentioned earlier, laxity with oral health hinders with our overall health and may contribute in augmentation of few alarming diseases. Endocarditis is an infection of the inner lining of our heart, known as endocardium.
It supervenes when the foreign invaders from the body, or specifically from the mouth, make their way into the bloodstream and leech onto the impaired areas of the heart.
Additionally, some studies show evidence of cardiovascular diseases such as clogged arteries and stroke being linked to oral bacteria.
Periodontitis, a severe form of gum disease, has been associated with premature birth and low birth weight. Now, one of the specific conditions that affect our oral health is diabetes.
Diabetes lowers the immunity of the body against infections, putting the gums at risk. Diabetic patients show an increased occurrence of gum diseases. Moreover, scientists say that the folks who have gum disease have a harder time controlling their blood sugar levels. However, regular periodontal care can help with the improvement.
Unfortunately, people who have HIV/AIDS commonly have excruciating oral problems such as painful mucosal lesions. Osteoporosis, the disease that causes bones to become feeble, has been connected with periodontal bone loss as well as loss of tooth.
The disease linked to memory loss and loss of other cognitive functions, that is Alzheimer’s disease, has shown to advance in individuals with lousy oral health. Additional illnesses displaying connection with faulty oral health are rheumatoid arthritis, head and neck cancers, eating disorders and a disorder of the immune system that causes dry mouth, Sjogren’s syndrome.
Need for dentists in Ghana
It is a sorry state of affairs in our country when it comes to the availability of dentists. In spite of dental problems that lead to such devastating magnitudes of sicknesses, there are not enough dentists in the country to heal us.
According to the Ghana Medical Association and Ghana Medical Journal, Ghana’s 20 million people have only 120 dentists, 70 per cent of them are located in Accra and Kumasi. In contrast, a developed country such as Australia, with similar population like that of our country, was reported with 8991 dentists in the year 2000.
Hence, from this appalling number, the scarcity of dental surgeons and hygienists is quite evident in our country. The requirement for oral health manpower is indeed a grave ongoing concern. The reinforcement of a sustainable manpower policy to train the oral healthcare personnel is much needed.
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This training should also cater to the needs of the private sector, so as to ease the government from that pressure. For, as long as this crucial situation persists, not every Ghanaian can be assured a top notch oral healthcare delivery. It has been proposed that, the demand as well as alertness for the oral health services is one of the most profound pointers, for the level of growth in any country worldwide.
Dental problems can lead to diminished functionality at work and at school, which is sultry to Ghana’s economy and its progress in a promising future. Amendments in the Ghana Dental Services will lead to an enriched Ghanaian society.
Everyone deserves a smile that is bright and wide. Therefore, don’t rush when you brush! As Tom Wilson said, “A smile is the happiness you’ll find right under your nose”.
— The writer is a Biotechnologist, Entrepreneur
Writes popular science articles; simplifies science and blends it with witty snippets for public awareness.
[email protected]
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