Tanzania: Progressive Signs Now Visible in Dental Care

Dar Es Salaam — OVER the last ten years there has been much effort to improve the dental practice in the country, so that even those living in rural areas can directly benefit from available services, within reach of their homes. It was in this respect that Staff Writer IMAN MANI recently spoke with the chief dental officer.

AMONGST his duties the Chief Dental Officer, Dr Ahadiel Senkoro, has to formulate, disseminate and review policies of government on oral health care throughout the country.

He also has to facilitate the preparation, distribution and implementation of plans for these services in the country. It should be stated here that in the not to distant past such persons were called dentists.

The change from being called a dentist to an oral health officer came after stakeholders had decided it is better suited for it reflects more accurately the actual work these doctors, who are concerned with the entire oral section of the body and not only teeth, do.

"Currently most people living in the rural communities do not benefit much from our services because they have to travel to the district or regional headquarters, where most of our dentists are based.

This is a disadvantage. The question has come down to whether one is able to travel because people are poor," Dr Senkoro explains. "Public clinics are subsidised and have a costs-sharing system in operation.

However, they are not always in easy reach of those who need the services provided by them," he adds.

In urban settings, he says, people are aware of the services available so they come from all walks of life to the (dental) clinics and some even demand services within the higher strata of treatment However, in the villages and to a lesser extent in the towns, people only go to a dentist when they have tooth ache, seeking an extraction.

All the same he is able to say that the number of people going for fillings and cleaning is noticeably higher today than years pass. This also applies to request for artificial teeth and various other treatments, like fixing a broken jaw and healing cancers.

This is proof of the availability of a market. Such observations have resulted in a recent pilot study being conducted by the Muhimbili National Hospital in three regions.

According to Dr Senkoro a direct outcome of this study is a plan to train a number of people on what he referred to as "a special dramatic technique", so that these newly trained technicians in turn will train others in the districts.

This treatment, which they are being taught to administer, involves removing all derbies from the teeth then filling in any cavities without the use of machines.

It has been discovered that generally speaking people still refrain from going to the dentist because of a sort of fear of injections and drillings.

Therefore, there has always been the desire to provide treatment without the use of these things.

At the annual meeting of the dental practitioners last month the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health, Blandina Nyoni, told members they can depend on the ministry to give full support for this plan to be applied throughout the country.

She had asked for her to be sent as quickly as possible their plan of action, with this respect. Two proposals have been sent to her by the dental association, who are currently waiting for a response from her.

The task now in front of the dental fraternity is to find ways to reach out and educate members of the population on what is available and where, so that people can be encouraged to take better care of their oral health.

At a later stage of the exercise, leaflets will have to be produced and various branches of the media will be used towards these ends. "We are trying to modernise dentistry in our country.

We started in 2004 and thought we should send new equipment to the district and regional dental clinics, so that trained personals there can start giving a variety of services to the people.

We started with the dental chairs and units and other instruments and equipment, now we are sending x-ray machines," Dr Senkoro says.

Another advantage, which comes out of the plans to improve the equipment used throughout the country, is that dentists, who graduate from Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences using modern facilities, are more likely to agree to work in the regions if they know such equipment is there.

This way they won't get bored and frustrated but continue to find satisfaction in their work. They will now have concrete beneficial reasons for agreeing to work in the regions, as oppose to the towns and cities.

Within the last ten years, there has been a lot of improvement in the level of awareness of people throughout the country. Nowadays people are demanding services they never had any interest in before

Source:allafrica.com/