Tooth decay increasing in rural areas: Dentist

Tooth decay is increasing and becoming a health concern in Northern, Popondetta General Hospital dental therapist Virginia Jawa says.
She told The National tooth decay was only a problem for urban dwellers but it had shifted to the rural areas because people were consuming more processed food than garden produce.
“It has shifted from urban dwellers to outer parts of the province because now that we have oil palm that gives money to the people and people are turning more to refined food than the local food,” Jawa said.
“There’s a village where people have five to 10 decayed teeth; that’s what we have been observing until recently. The the dental problem has increased when the oil palm corporation arrived.”
She said people’s carelessness of chewing betel nuts had also contributed to the problem.
She said the dental clinic was moved to a temporary building to make way for the construction of the surgical wing of the hospital that was almost completed and set to open soon.
“We have been operating in a four-surgery dental clinic within the hospital grounds but due to a roofing issue we moved buildings,” Jawa said.
“In the temporary building not all dental treatments will be conducted because of lack of spacing.
“But we have been promised a new dental clinic.
“There are currently 13 staff working in the dental clinic; two doctors, three dental therapists, five nurses and one carer.”