All public hospitals from the district level upwards will be equipped to provide adequate oral health care, preventative dentistry, to underserved communities in line with the goal of leaving no place and no one behind.
Ministry of Health and Child Care acting director oral health services Dr Hardwicke Matikiti said the Government was running with the thrust to ensure that every district, provincial and central hospital had enough oral health services.
Zimbabwe did not have an institution to train dental therapists so the Government had opened such a school. The main duty of dental therapists was to provide preventive dentistry at all district hospitals.
"Almost every district in Zimbabwe now has at least one dental therapist so they serve at the district hospital. In addition, we realised that we do not have enough dental personnel to reach everywhere, so during training of nurses, they are also taught the basic oral health examination and we want them to be able to refer patients. Our target is that if they recognise the problem early, they refer early and we will be able to interact with the patient at the district hospital or at a higher level," said Dr Matikiti.
Zimbabwe today joins the world in commemorating World Oral Health Day, which seeks to raise awareness about oral health issues and the importance of oral hygiene.
The day is being celebrated under the theme "A happy mouth is... a happy body", emphasising the intricate link between oral health and overall well-being.
Dr Matikiti said the major challenge being faced in Zimbabwe with regards to oral health was lack of knowledge about the dangers associated with bad oral hygiene.
"There are a lot of common diseases that we can just see or diagnose from looking at the teeth so it is important for people to keep their oral health because it is part of their general disease situation. The general populace is not aware of the importance of oral health and usually seek services when they are either in pain, or when they have been assaulted and can no longer eat, or when they have big tumours. Many people are not aware of when to seek help because there are certain conditions which are easy to manage but because people present their condition late, we then have to do mainly tooth extractions," he said.
The most common oral conditions in Zimbabwe include tooth decay, gum disease (periodontitis and gingivitis), trauma and oral cancers.
Dr Matikiti said people often sought services when gum diseases had progressed and their teeth were now falling out.
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In the case of cancers, he said a lot of people waited until the growth had become bigger than the face and the cancer had spread to other parts of the body.
"Gingivitis is the swelling or inflammation of the gums. When people see blood, they do not seek help but usually they then stop brushing or using that gum. When you do that, the plaque that has initiated that irritation goes beyond the gums to the bone that holds the tooth. So when the support structure is affected, it does not regenerate and you end up losing teeth. We do not have current statistics on gingivitis and periodontitis, but both in rural and urban areas we have a lot of people who have teeth that appear longer than normal because they are no longer firm in the bone and they lose the teeth," said Dr Matikiti.
Zimbabwe was also recording many cases of trauma, where people came in with some serious fractures after interpersonal violence or road traffic accidents with some needing to be repaired through surgery.
While people are supposed to visit the dentist every six months for routine dental care, many Zimbabweans do not do this.
Dr Matikiti said this had been mainly driven by the fact that most dental services were paid for in cash for those not on medical aid, an expense many could not afford.
