(By Dr. Joseph D. Lim and Dr. Kenneth Lester Lim)
THE WORLD Health Organization (WHO) has released the latest data on oral health.
The key facts:
Oral diseases, while largely preventable, pose a major health burden for many countries and affect people throughout their lifetime, causing pain, discomfort, disfigurement and even death. The WHO estimates that oral diseases affect nearly 3.7 billion people worldwide.
In permanent teeth, untreated dental caries (what we know as tooth decay) is the most common health condition, according to the WHO citing the Global Burden of Disease 2021.
Prevention and treatment for oral health conditions is expensive and usually not part of national universal health coverage benefit packages. In fact, most low- and middle-income countries do not have sufficient services available to prevent and treat oral health conditions.
Oral diseases are preventable because they are caused by risk factors that can be modified by changes in behavior or habits. These include sugar consumption, tobacco use, alcohol use and poor hygiene.
Most oral health conditions can be treated in their early stages. Most cases are dental caries (tooth decay), periodontal or gum diseases, tooth loss and oral cancers. Other oral conditions of public health importance are orofacial clefts, noma (severe gangrenous disease starting in the mouth mostly affecting children) and oro-dental trauma.
“Prevalence of the main oral diseases continues to increase globally with growing urbanization and changes in living conditions,” according to the WHO.
“This is primarily due to inadequate exposure to fluoride (in the water supply and oral hygiene products such as toothpaste), availability and affordability of food with high sugar content and poor access to oral health care services in the community. Marketing of food and beverages high in sugar, as well as tobacco and alcohol, have led to a growing consumption of products that contribute to oral health conditions and other NCDs.”
Most oral diseases and conditions share modifiable risk factors such as tobacco use, alcohol consumption and an unhealthy diet high in free sugars that are common to other noncommunicable diseases, including cardiovascular disease, cancer, chronic respiratory disease and diabetes.
In addition, diabetes has been linked in a reciprocal way with the development and progression of gum disease. There is also a causal link between the high consumption of sugar and diabetes, obesity and dental caries.
“Oral diseases disproportionately affect the poor and socially disadvantaged members of society,” the WHO observes. “There is a very strong and consistent association between socioeconomic status (income, occupation and educational level) and the prevalence and severity of oral diseases. This association exists from early childhood to older age and across populations in high-, middle- and low-income countries.”
It says that the burden of oral diseases and other noncommunicable diseases can be reduced through public health interventions by addressing common risk factors.
These include: promoting a well-balanced diet low in free sugars and high in fruit and vegetables, and favoring water as the main drink; stopping the use of all forms of tobacco; reducing alcohol consumption; and encouraging the use of protective equipment when doing sports and travelling on bicycles and motorcycles (to reduce the risk of facial injuries).
Adequate exposure to fluoride is also an essential factor in the prevention of tooth decay. Finally, the WHO encourages a twice-daily tooth brushing with toothpaste containing fluoride./PN
