In Senegal, 76% of the population has one or more dental pathologies. Only 62% of these patient populations do not yet seek care and cannot consult a specialist. The Director of Disease Control (Dlm) gave an update yesterday on the occasion of the celebration of World Oral Health Day. “According to the latest data available to us, regarding the adult population of Senegal, at least 76% have one or more dental pathologies. It is a very important number. With regard to gum pathologies, we have 72% of the adult population who have a gum-related pathology,” said Doctor Babacar Guèye. He then underlined that what is most important and which shows that we must raise awareness, “is that 62% of these populations who present oral pathologies do not have recourse to care and cannot consult a specialist in the matter”.
According to the Director of Disease Control, oral health and other pathologies such as diabetes and cancer are preventable risk factors, including poor diet, consumption of sugary foods, excessive use of alcohol and smoking. Asked about the availability of specialists to take care of this pathology, Doctor Guèye notes that it is a contrast with the efforts of the government of Senegal to be able to strengthen the device for taking care of oral pathology. This as part of improving oral health.
“Today, we cannot note less than 570 dental surgeons in Senegal distributed between 2/3 at the level of private structures. But around 200 are in public structures,” he said.
For her part, Rokhaya Diakhaté, president of the Association of Women Dental Surgeons of Senegal (Afcds) explained: “We are playing our part at the level of the Ter, the stations of Rufisque, Thiaroye and Diamniadio to raise awareness among all passengers to pay attention to oral diseases but also to know brushing techniques. But also to see what not to do in order not to have them. 80,000 passengers were seen, we also made reference”.