Dental screenings campaign has also reached on ‘Deaf students’ to teach them their oral hygiene and health

03/24/2023 imena

You should take oral health seriously for a variety of reasons, beginning with the obvious one of maintaining a healthy mouth. According to experts, poor oral hygiene may result in heart disease, stroke, and other health issues.

Thus, the Rwanda Biomedical Centre (RBC) and other stakeholders have been conducting various oral health activities since March 17 including dental checkups, live radio and television discussion programs, and awareness displays via social media and other communication channels.

By closing the 7-day campaign, RBC held dental examinations at Institut Filipo Smaldone Nyamirambo (Rwandan school for deafs) on this Friday, March 24. Whereas the campaign started on March 19 as part of the Car Free Day event and continued on March 20 at Kacyiru Primary School.

Irene Bagahirwa, RBC’s superintendent of ongoing dental screenings says that “to make sure that no one is left behind, we decided to visit this school so that deaf pupils may learn about their oral cleanliness and health.”

During this event students learned how often they should clean their teeth and received a gift of toothbrush and toothpaste.

Every year on March 20, the world celebrates World Oral Health Day to increase awareness of oral health issues and the value of good oral hygiene. The topic for this year is ‘Be proud of your mouth.’

The WHO Global Oral Health Status Report (2022) estimated that oral diseases affect close to 3.5 billion people worldwide with 3 out of 4 people affected living in the middle-income countries. Globally, an estimated 2 billion people suffer from caries of permanent teeth while 514 million children suffer from caries of permanent teeth.

Locally, the Rwanda NCDs step survey 2021 indicated that 57 percent of Rwandans have never received dental care or visited a dentist while only 11.5 percent have seen a dentist in the last 12 months.