Angela Onwuzoo
Experts in the field of Orthodontics have said the integration of oral health into the primary healthcare system will provide access to orthodontic care for babies born with cleft lip.
The orthodontists said though the country with over 200 million people could only boast of 69 orthodontists, making the services of the few specialists available accessible to the rural communities will improve the oral health of children.
Speaking in an interview with PUNCH Healthwise, President of NAO, Dr Modupe Adeyinka, said there was a dearth of orthodontists in the country where over 60 per cent of Nigerians have poorly arranged teeth.
An orthodontist is a dentist trained to diagnose, prevent, and treat teeth and jaw irregularities. They correct existing conditions and are trained to identify problems that may develop in the future. Orthodontists work with people of all ages, from children to adults.
Adeyinka said orthodontists are specially trained to treat malocclusion by moving teeth and altering jaw relationships using different techniques.
She clarified that though every orthodontist is a dentist, not every dentist is an orthodontist.
According to her, orthodontists play a crucial role in delivering optimal oral health care to the population by correcting and managing malocclusions which most of the time, if not treated, can be debilitating both functionally and mentally.
She said there was a need to strengthen oral health in Nigeria and for the government to come up with policies to integrate oral health into primary healthcare to provide access to orthodontic care for babies born with cleft lip.
‘They also play a major and critical role in the management and rehabilitation of babies born with cleft lip and palate and managing them through their childhood, adolescence into adulthood along with other specialists.
“Most of these patients come from low-income families, and orthodontists help ease the burden of care for these patients through their timely and expert intervention.
“As smile builders, orthodontists by what they do, not only design and build smiles but also in the process, help in building self-confidence and enhance psychosocial well-being”, Adeyinka said.
She noted that a lot of work was being done in Nigeria at the moment on cleft lip and palate, especially in the nation’s teaching hospitals.
“Most of the time, this is in collaboration with the Smile Train and more importantly in a multidisciplinary approach with other disciplines, for holistic care.
“Smile Train has set up a lot of cleft centres in the country but not all centres have orthodontists in them to help deliver the initial care for these patients by preparing them for surgery.
“Pre-surgical preparations include reducing the width of the cleft using bands and feeding plates so that the babies can feed easily and are well nourished. There is a need to train auxiliaries to help deliver some of the initial care in these centres.
“We hope that government policies on health, especially on the primary healthcare level, will be mindful of this group of babies and their families,” she said.
Adeyinka urged the Federal government to include orthodontists as primary providers under the National Health Insurance Authority to improve access to orthodontics treatment, which she said is expensive.
Also, another orthodontist, Professor Idia Ize-Iyamu, said the few orthodontists available in Nigeria are seeking opportunities abroad, lamenting that the ‘Japa’ syndrome was hitting the orthodontics profession harder.
She said that with a population of over 200 million people, an orthodontist has an enormous number of two million patients to attend to, (one orthodontist to two million Nigerians), adding that this is a big burden to the association and Nigeria as a whole.
Ize-Iyamu noted, “With only 65 qualified orthodontists remaining in Nigeria, the majority of whom have sought opportunities abroad, the country faces an alarming patient-to-practitioner ratio of two million to one.
“There are diseases like gum disease that can lead to heart disease; therefore, it’s necessary to take care of our teeth through proper cleaning by brushing teeth often”, she advised.
She called for policy implementation that would provide access to orthodontics treatment to Nigerians.
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