Over 50 percent of Nigerians have poorly arranged teeth

Over 50 percent of Nigerians suffer from orthodontic problems or malocclusion simply called poorly arranged teeth.  President of the Nigerian Association of Orthodontists, Dr Ifeoma Utomi disclosed this yesterday in Abuja during the sensitization and dental screening exercise of school children as part of activities to promote orthodontic dental health in Nigeria. She said orthodontics […]

Over 50 percent of Nigerians suffer from orthodontic problems or malocclusion simply called poorly arranged teeth.
 President of the Nigerian Association of Orthodontists, Dr Ifeoma Utomi disclosed this yesterday in Abuja during the sensitization and dental screening exercise of school children as part of activities to promote orthodontic dental health in Nigeria.
She said orthodontics is a specialty area in dentistry and to be an orthodontist, you have to be a dentist first , after bagging a dentistry degree, you spend a minimum of another four years doing post graduate training, and the training is only done in six teaching hospitals in the country.
“An orthodontist is a specialist that corrects mal-alignment, or irregularities of the teeth and the jaws. If your bite is not good or your teeth are crooked, or sticking out they are treated by orthodontists,” she said.
She said it is worrisome that most people don’t know that something can be done about it , or that treatment for it is available in Nigeria.
Flagging off the awareness exercise, permanent secretary of the Federal Ministry of Health, Mr linus Awute said there are only 39 registered orthodontists for 170 million Nigerians , and the association has a lot of  work to do in increasing awareness and access of Nigerians to orthodontic care, in order to enable the populace live healthier.
Represented by a director, dentistry division of the ministry, Dr Bola Alonge, he urged the association to sustain the drive for improving oral health awareness among school children in Nigeria.
He said the ministry recently resuscitated its school oral health programme which was flagged off by former senate president, David Mark.
He said the national health policy has provided the framework for the improvement of oral health services for Nigerians, and development of our heath system.