Public Health Menace

21/01/2020

Dental diseases are a significant public health menace having a substantial impact on the quality of life which in turn affects the daily performance and general life satisfaction. There is a vast difference in health status including the oral health between urban and rural population of India and in other developing countries. The existing situation demands the formulation and implementation of National Oral Health Policy in India in order to expand the oral health care to make it more affordable, and reachable. An extensive literature search was conducted using various search engines in order to include relevant information in the review. There is a need of dental health planners and policy makers that have relevant qualifications and training in public health dentistry to understand the unique needs and resources for the development of an effective oral health policy. Professional dental organizations can also support government programs to provide basic oral health needs of extensive underserved population of this country.In developing countries, there is a vast difference in oral health status between urban and rural populations, with enormous and widening disparities in access to quality care, predominantly in rural areas.The sad thing is that oral health education and indeed even emergency dentistry are low on the list of priorities when it comes to health care in developing countries. This is further compounded by most countries choosing to use the little money they do have for oral health on traditional approaches of employing a very small number of fully trained dentists along with the complex equipment and expensive materials. This makes even simple treatment inaccessible to the vast majority of the population.
The Government has failed to up-grade manpower and the infrastructure linked to the Oral health in Jammu and Kashmir, the number of unemployed dental surgeons are surging beyond numbers with oral health taking a hit. The patient influx in oral health care has witnessed a manifold increase but human resources and infrastructure have not been developed as per the need. Number of Dental Surgeons for a 300, 200 and 100 bedded District Hospitals, 50-100 bedded Sub District Hospital and Primary Health Center is only 2 but as per guidelines it should be 5. The increase in patients in OPDs at District Hospitals and Sub District Hospitals has become challenging with the limited human resource. It is not possible for the Dental Surgeons, who are 2 at District Hospital and one at Sub District Hospital to manage both OPD and surgical and conservative procedures there by leading in devaluing of ideal oral health care services. With the non-availability of the required facilities, people are forced to consult quacks for dental ailments, resulting in further deterioration of oral health. As per the numbers available with the J&K Dental Surgeons Association, the number of unemployed dental surgeons in Jammu and Kashmir has reached more than 3000. The callous approach of successive governments to upgrade dental health care is responsible for Hepatitis B&C cases in J&K saying that people are forced to consult quacks which needs to be checked.

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