This year’s World Oral Health Day has been launched in Accra with a call on schoolchildren not to overlook oral health.
The Director of the School Health and Education Programme (SHEP) of the Ghana Education Service (GES), Mrs Kate Opoku, who made the call, noted that less than one out of five children got preventive dental service a year due to financial constraints.
The World Oral Health Day, which was launched by Unilever Ghana Limited, is on the theme: “It all starts here, healthy mouth, healthy body, and will be climaxed on March 20 with a grand durbar.
The day is an international day that is celebrated world-wide annually to promote awareness of the issues on oral health and the importance of keeping good health.
According to Mrs Opoku, studies have shown that 80 per cent of schoolchildren are affected with gum diseases while 20 per cent are affected with dental caries.
“Children from poor homes are four times likely to have dental decay in early childhood,” she said.
The Oral Care Manager of Unilever Ghana Limited, Ms Patience Oforiwa Mpereh, noted that cavities affected 60 to 90 per cent of schoolchildren and nearly 100 per cent of adults world-wide.
“Reportedly world-wide, in Ghana, 96 per cent of adults between 35 and 44 years are affected by periodontal diseases while 40 per cent of 12 year olds suffer from decayed, missing teeth, stained teeth and bad breath.”
The campaign by Unilever to get children to brush their teeth twice daily, she said, had reached 7,000,000 schoolchildren in the country since its inception in 1995.
The Brand Manager of Pepsodent, Mr Evans Kutin, who launched the day, said a promotion which would see many children winning exciting prizes would be held to herald the grand durbar.
