Dental expert stresses on importance of oral hygiene

(MENAFN- Gulf Times) Visiting professor from Lahore, Dr Faisal Izhar, addresses students of
Pak Shamaa School & College on health issues. By Umer Nangiana
Simple dental care habits inculcated in children at early age can go on to prevent most of the oral cavity diseases, if not all, said Dr Faisal Izhar, Associate Professor and Head of Preventive and Community Dentistry at Fatima Memorial College of Dentistry, Lahore, Pakistan, addressing the students of Pak Shamaa School & College here during a recent seminar.
He added: "Diseases of oral cavity may lead to dangerous body disease. Prevention of oral diseases, however, is easy and it can be achieved through educating children and their parents about importance of dental health."
The school invited the dental expert to sensitise students on the issues of oral hygiene and health. He briefed students on how they can stay healthy by maintaining oral hygiene.
Dr Izhar also gave them useful tips. The lecture was followed by question and answer session. He discussed different techniques through which people can benefit from a prevention regimen.
"It is not just about the teeth. It is different types of diseases of the gums and prevention especially from injuries and oral cancers. This is what people have to be told," said Dr Izhar while talking to Community.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has put up a report, he said, in which you can see that nearly 92% of the world population has oral diseases in the form of caries and periodontitis.
Both these diseases are preventable and it can be done simply by adopting habits on how you maintain oral hygiene from a very early age. "Parents and, mothers in particular, have to be sensitised about these issues. As media is very vibrant these days, children can be made aware. But it is the mothers who have to be educated about the importance of oral hygiene so that they can start making their children develop those habits," stressed the dental expert.
Oral disease does lead to a lot of other diseases in the body, he warned. So by taking care of the oral cavity disease, many other diseases can also be prevented.
"Mouth is the gateway to our body. So we have to take care of whatever we eat and how we keep our oral environment balanced, stable and clean," said Dr Izhar.
"I have done some research on this. There is a particular bacterium H pylori which is present in stomach and causes ulcers. It is also present in the oral cavity. The level of H pylori in the oral cavity is related to the amount of bacteria in the stomach," he added.
In women, for instance, there is a disease called osteoporosis. The dentist can tell by simply looking at the teeth of women who are suffering from osteoporosis.
There are many ways of preventing all these disease, however. And they are very easy to adopt.
People need to brush their teeth twice a day. Another good technique is to use a mouthwash occasionally.
"The best mouthwash that I recommend is warm water with salt. It prevents a lot of oral disease. It suppresses and weakens the bacteria that cause different disease like caries. Then you have flossing especially after taking meals," recommended the dental expert.
The most important, however, he said, is drinking water. Worldwide they follow what we call water fluoridation that is drinking as to the average of 1 part per million of fluoride added to it so that the fluoride is digested systematically. This prevents caries, he added.
The other is the prevention of injuries. Oral cavity injuries are mostly caused by sport or road accidents. They are preventable. Then there are oral cancers which are caused basically by substances used such as tobacco. Oral cancer is the most common. "It is preventable. People are not just aware of the pitfalls of using tobacco and related products," said the expert.
On his first visit to Doha, Dr Izhar said it is a fabulous city and will the best in the region in the next five years.
He visited some dental care facilities here and learnt about diseases which are common. "The main disease is caries. Individually they are working on it but collectively there is no campaign going on and that surprised me a little because in a country where healthcare facilities are excellent, to sensitise people they need to work upon public dental health," observed the expert, adding that importance of prevention cannot be ignored.
Dr Izhar said his first trip to Doha has been memorable. He made a lot of friends.