COMMON
ORAL DISEASE AND HOW TO PREVENT IT
The oral cavity consist of the lips, cheeks, tongue,
teeth, gum, various structures attached
to it and salivary gland which is responsible for the secretion of watery fluid
called the saliva. Different disease and malformations can occur in any of
these structures of the oral cavity, even though certain disease are more
common among younger age while others
are common at older age.
There is various classification of oral disease,
some of which include:
INFECTION
There are millions of bacteria that live in the
mouth which posses a great threat to the body immune system which when lowered
due to Illness or other factors may affect the alveolar bone, teeth, gum and
other factors.
TRAUMA
The lips, cheeks, teeth, tongue, and bony structures
suffer from different trauma’s .some of which result from fall, fight and road
rage causing fracture, tear, and crush of tissues concerned in addition to
bleeding that may accompany the injury.
NEOPLASM
Tumor or abnormal growth can affect the mouth and
its contents. Common risk factors are cigarette smoking or tobacco chewing,
excessive alcohol consumption.
DEGENERATION
These are disease that arises as a result of old age
such as natural tooth loss. Also, decreased salivary flow could predispose to
dry mouth which results in dental caries commonly known as tooth ache.
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TOOTH
DECAY
This is commonly referred to as dental caries. It is
one of the most common oral health problems. It is a slow process involving the
localized destruction of the teeth often resulting into a hole or cavitation
in the affected tooth/teeth. The process involves continuous demineralization
of the tooth due to by-products of microorganism on fermentable carbohydrate in
the individual’s tooth. Some bacteria in the dental plaque [an invisible mass
of soft or yellow harmful layers of germs that live in the mouth and stick to
the surface of the teeth. note: plaques are bacteria and not food particles.]
are able to turn the sugar we eat into acid, which when slowly dissolves the
tooth –first from enamel to dentin leading to formation of a hole and built of
pains after a cold food or drink.
Tooth decay affects about 90-95 percent of total
world population i.e. it is a pandemic. Similarly, the prevalence was high in
whites but presently the reverse is the case.
HOW
TO IDENTIFY TOOTH DECAY
Pains at advanced stage include dark spots on the
teeth which sometimes comes with fever [if infection spreads to other parts of
the body – i.e. becomes systemic], swelling [if there is collection of pus],
hole or complete loss of teeth, bad odor from the mouth.
HOW
TO PREVENT ORAL DISEASE
Primary
prevention: this involves the prevention of the
said disease in an individual before it happens at all through general health
promotion, health education, health maintaining habits, good nutrition, oral
hygiene ,good eating habits, fluoridation, regular dental check-up and
stopping/quitting certain habits.
Secondary prevention: this is aimed at halting the progress
of the disease at its early stage before serious or irreversible damage occurs.
This is done through early diagnosis and prompt treatment.
Tertiary prevention: sometimes bad damage would have
occurred and what could be done is limitation of the disability e.g. counseling
to quit tobacco, smoking or desist from sugary consumption and also
rehabilitation.
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