National Task Force on 'oral health' soon

With a view to sensitising the masses and ensuring provision of better facilities to public particularly children pertaining to oral health, the Ministry of Health (MoH) is going to form a National Task Force on 'Oral Health'.
Sources in MoH told Business Recorder, here on Monday that the proposed task force will adopt necessary recommendations to improve the state of oral health in the country, apart from pointing out weaknesses in health care system which is aggravating the overall health scenario.
According to the sources, the Ministry of Health has asked all the provincial governments to mobilise the most vulnerable groups against oral diseases which are on rise. The provincial governments have also been asked to launch special campaigns to create awareness among people about the oral diseases.
The provinces have also been asked to pay focus on children who are more vulnerable to oral diseases and all schools should also be involved in such campaigns, as it would help create awareness in children who had to face such diseases in early age due to lack of information, the sources added.
With an increasing awareness in the society about the oral health and changing treatment needs, there will be a greater demand for specialists in dentistry, the sources said.
According to them, there is limited number of medical colleges offering postgraduate education in dentistry. There are a few numbers of specialists in pediatric dentistry and the need is to increase the number of seats in pediatric dentistry. Only around 1-percent of the specialists are being trained in community dentistry, whereas in a country like Pakistan where the majority of the population resides in the rural areas, there is greater need for these specialists.
In many developing countries like Pakistan, oral health services are offered by dentists, who practice in the cities and treat the affluent parts of the urban population. It is often difficult for the poor urban and the rural population to get access to emergency care, the sources pointed out.
They further said the major missing link causing poor situation is the absence of a primary health care approach in dentistry. The costs of providing services are high compared to other areas of health care, and the workforce is very limited. A common way of thinking among health planners should be to increase the number of dentists to meet the workforce problem. They ignore the primary health care approach for oral health services, which can be executed by dental auxiliaries, the sources said.
According to them, various sporadic studies show that there was a rising level of dental diseases in Pakistan. The situation is perhaps similar to that in most developing countries in the Asia-Pacific region. The two most prevalent diseases are dental caries and periodontal diseases, followed by malocclusion and oral cancers. About 30-50 percent of children have malocclusion, and 30 percent of all cancers reported in Pakistan are oral cancers.
The sources say numerous challenges exist for expanding oral health care in Pakistan. The biggest challenge is the need for dental health planners with relevant qualifications and training in public health dentistry. Nevertheless, there is a lack of authentic and valid data for assessment of community demands, as well as the lack of an organised system for monitoring oral health care services need to guide planners.