Toothache Affecting Children’s Education

LILONGWE: An NGO that promotes oral health says teeth decay remains the most common disease among pupils in rural schools in Malawi.

The NGO, TeethSavers International says though the disease is not receiving much attention, experience has shown that seventy percent of the children in rural areas have developed tooth decay and require medical attention.

Country Director for the organization Mr. Fred Sambani also disclosed that sixty percent of these children frequently miss classes, thereby reducing their chances of excelling in education.

TeethSavers International Country Director for Malawi Mr. Fred Sambani says rural schools and villages in Malawi have little or no accessibility to oral health care and education, a development that increasing tooth decay.

According to an observation by TeethSavers International, tooth decay is a big problem in Malawi though authorities have not realized and prioritized the disease.

Mr. Sambani says the problem is more serious to children at rural schools and villages as it has shown that over sixty percent of the pupils have serious tooth decay.

He said toothache, usually with accompanying infection, is responsible for many hours of absenteeism from classes at schools and work by teachers.

“Dental is really a huge problem in Malawi. From the centers we have visited, mostly primary schools in rural areas, eighty percent of the people that can be screened at a place, you find that seventy percent of that number, most of them have dental problems.

“When you are in class, you know that at the end you are going to write examinations but it has been observed that pupils who have dental diseases miss a lot of classes sue to toothache,” said Mr. Sambani.

According tot Mr. Sambani, this suggests that there is an urgency to address the issues of early prevention of diseases through health education.

According to Mr. Sambani, oral health education programs have been shown to result in improvement of oral hygiene status in primary school children, villages and all communities.—Zodiak