Dentists stress on making oral health integral to overall national healthcare

On World Endodontic Day, dentists urged the government and healthcare planners to make oral health a more integral priority of the overall national healthcare mission and also stressed on raising awareness among people about preserving their teeth from infections.

"People are aware of tooth decay, but few realise that dental caries worsen over a few months, going deeper into the tooth and causing dental nerve pain and bone infection around the roots. This condition is known as apical periodontitis," said Dr Gopi Krishna, secretary-general of the International Federation of Endodontic Associations (IFEA).

Dr Krishna, who is based in Chennai, stated that half of the adult population worldwide have at least one tooth with apical periodontitis. This startling finding from a global study covering more than 40 countries, including India, was published last year in the International Endodontic Journal.

"Data from surveys conducted in various Indian cities found that close to two-thirds of the adult population of India have at least one tooth with apical periodontitis," he said.

Dr Krishna emphasised that a nationwide awareness campaign and interventions are needed to reduce the disease that would affect every alternate Indian in the coming decades, posing a huge burden on public and government healthcare expenditure.

"Efforts should be made to draw the attention of the government and healthcare planners in making oral health a more integral priority of the overall national healthcare mission," he said.

According to Dr Ajay Logani, a professor at the Centre for Dental Education and Research (CDER) in AIIMS-Delhi, stated that the prevalence of dental caries in the Indian adult population is 62 per cent, which is extremely high.  "If we do not treat dental decay at an early stage then it will lead to apical periodontitis. A more sensible long-term dental solution would be to save such teeth with endodontic (root canal therapy) procedures instead of the traditional approach of extracting such teeth." Dr Logani stated.

The IFEA and the Indian Endodontic Society (IES) are conducting a global campaign to improve awareness about this disease through a campaign on World Endodontic Day.

Dr Sanjay Miglani, the president of IES said a coordinated nationwide programme by more than 100 colleges and institutions across India is being carried out on October 16 to improve people's awareness about this silent epidemic.

Periodic dental checkups and maintaining good oral hygiene are simple measures in preventing this disease and maintaining oral health, said Dr Sangeeta Talwar, the former Director-Principal of the Maulana Azad Institute of Dental Sciences in Delhi.  Dentists and Endodontists are capable of performing a wide range of predictable and scientifically backed root canal therapy also known as endodontic procedures that save millions of teeth every year, she said.