World Oral health day was celebrate on March 20, 2019 with the theme – Smile for life. Well, if we consider India there has be significant advancement of technology in dentistry domain and development too. Yet, statistics tell a different story which says that a major chunk of Indian population are not able to have access to dental facilities and its benefits due to various different reasons.
The National Oral Health Program of India shows startling statistics around dental health and facilities in India. As per its report around 95% of Indians suffer from gum disease, 70% of the children under 15 years of age have dental issues and 50% of the population of India don’t even use a toothbrush for that matter.
A report titles Utilization of dental care- An India outlook published in the Journal of Natural Science, Biology and Medicine shows an awful dentist patient ratio difference in Urban and Rural Areas. While in urban areas the ratio is 1:10,000 its 1:150000 in rural areas. People in rural areas as compared to urban areas do not have access to even basic dental care due to reasons like lack of infrastructure, behavioral, socio-economic, demographic as well as epidemiological factors. People in rural areas still fear dental treatment and there is a lack of awareness in them about the importance of oral health as well.
This only means that there is not only a need to have basic dental health facilities in the remote rural areas of India but also simultaneously have awareness initiatives and programs about importance of oral health and the need for dental checkups and on time treatment and programs to take the fear out of the community around dental procedures. People need to be aware that oral health is equally important as general health and provide dental care services that are at par with facilities in urban areas. The IDA has already calculated the growth rate of dental industry by 30% and has to meet the same presently has 290 dental colleges that churns out 25,000 graduates every year. India has housed almost 2 lac dental professionals including 5000 labs and 35000 specialists. As per the World health organization, India still needs to setup 2500 dental clinics every year to meet such a high demand. India is already a huge market for dentistry particularly with growing incomes and awareness for dental care in urban but it’s the rural areas of India where the focus needs to be more and the role of the government here is a big one for sure. Even Dentists can join the movement by education consumers. Nowadays, branded dental chains and networks are beginning to spread their wings. A welcome move, this can certainly help in propagating the message around dental care and treatment and achieve the goals of –smile for life.
*Sourced from Internet
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