Private dental practitioners in Nigeria say they are keying into the National Oral Health Policy with a view to providing affordable and quality oral health care to a targeted 50 per cent of the Nigerian population.
Speaking at the inauguration of the Association of Private Dental Practitioners in Nigeria in Lagos on Friday, the President of the group, Dr. Bidemi Dawodu, said the role of private dental care providers in achieving the objectives of the National Oral Health Policy was imperative.
Dawodu explained that members of the association would make use of the National Health Insurance Scheme to kick start the achievement of the objectives of the oral health care policy.
According to him, the new association will collaborate with financial institutions to mobilise funds for vibrant dentists to set up cottage clinics in various parts of the country to expand access to oral health care.
Dawodu said, “Apart from helping to solve the common and peculiar problems of private dental practitioners, we are to make ourselves available to help government achieve the objectives of the National Health Care policy. www.medicalworldnigeria.com
“These days there are more dental issues than what we used to have in the past. We record more cases of holes in the teeth while many gum diseases abound.”
President, Nigeria Dental Association, Dr. Oluwarotimi Olojede, described the new association as an affiliate that will help give a push to oral health care delivery in Nigeria.
Olojede said the association came on board at a time when private dental practitioners, who, according to him, are closer to the grass roots, were needed to provide a common front in achieving the National Oral Health Policy.
He said, “This new association will indeed be an active, viral and dynamic affiliate of the Nigeria Dental Association whose members will act as foot soldiers in furthering the agenda of the dental profession to no limit in the country.
“It is worthy of note that a lot of disease tend to manifest in the mouth early enough than in other parts of the body and that is why oral health should be given adequate attention.
Medical Director, Schubbs Dental Clinics, Dr. Olabode Karunwi, while delivering a keynote address at the event, lamented that there was a general dearth of dental professionals in the country.
He noted that the paucity of manpower had led to a low level of dental care awareness and information on oral health programmes.
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