Introducing Low-Cost Dental Units in Hospitals to Mitigate Brain Effect in Dental Care - Expert
A former Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academics) of the University of Ibadan, Prof. Gbemisola Oke, in an assessment of the massive emigration of dentists to Nigeria, said there was a need to introduce units low-cost dental units that would be occupied by dental therapists and hygienists.
Professor Oke, who spoke at the Annual General Meeting of the Oyo State Chapter of the Nigerian Dental Association (NDA) and the 2022 Scientific Conference on the theme “The fate of dentistry in Oyo State in the era of brain drain," said it was a possible solution to mitigate the effect of brain drain in the dental field and to meet the oral health needs of the population using the basic oral health package.
Prof Oke said that according to the World Health Organization's recommendation of one dentist per 5,000 population, Nigeria will need at least 36,000 full-time dentists and that it meeting this requirement will be difficult given current efforts to mitigate or reverse the emigration of health workers.
She said the random number of emigrant health workers moved each day needs to be normalized based on the Migration Index to ensure the problem is better understood by everyone and come up with possible solutions .
She said: "Dental therapists and hygienists could increase the oral health workforce if we allow them an expanded role. They can be given rural assignments to meet oral health needs. of the population using the basic oral health package.
"I know the issues of quackery and maybe the possibility of it going overboard. This is only a suggestion. It may be time to re-evaluate our stance on task shifting and act accordingly.
"In addition, we need to raise awareness because dental care is expensive. We should prevent dental problems rather than waiting for expensive treatment. So when we integrate these workers, they can raise awareness.
Furthermore, the introduction of low-cost dental units in dental hospitals is important, so that where we do not have dentists, dental therapists and hygienists are available and can do references. With proper training and monitoring of the lower management workforce, they may be able to function in this capacity
"We must also push for increased coverage of dental procedures in the National Health Insurance Scheme as part of what is needed to ensure the good oral health of Nigerians."
Permanent Secretary of Oyo State Hospital Management Board and Chairman on occasion, Dr. Muftua Ayoola assured that the state government seeks to mitigate the effect of emigration of health care workers in the state due to its impact on the quality of health care services, job overload on available health care workers, and state health indices.
A former Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academics) of the University of Ibadan, Prof. Gbemisola Oke, in an assessment of the massive emigration of dentists to Nigeria, said there was a need to introduce units low-cost dental units that would be occupied by dental therapists and hygienists.
Professor Oke, who spoke at the Annual General Meeting of the Oyo State Chapter of the Nigerian Dental Association (NDA) and the 2022 Scientific Conference on the theme “The fate of dentistry in Oyo State in the era of brain drain," said it was a possible solution to mitigate the effect of brain drain in the dental field and to meet the oral health needs of the population using the basic oral health package.
Prof Oke said that according to the World Health Organization's recommendation of one dentist per 5,000 population, Nigeria will need at least 36,000 full-time dentists and that it meeting this requirement will be difficult given current efforts to mitigate or reverse the emigration of health workers.
She said the random number of emigrant health workers moved each day needs to be normalized based on the Migration Index to ensure the problem is better understood by everyone and come up with possible solutions .
She said: "Dental therapists and hygienists could increase the oral health workforce if we allow them an expanded role. They can be given rural assignments to meet oral health needs. of the population using the basic oral health package.
"I know the issues of quackery and maybe the possibility of it going overboard. This is only a suggestion. It may be time to re-evaluate our stance on task shifting and act accordingly.
"In addition, we need to raise awareness because dental care is expensive. We should prevent dental problems rather than waiting for expensive treatment. So when we integrate these workers, they can raise awareness.
Furthermore, the introduction of low-cost dental units in dental hospitals is important, so that where we do not have dentists, dental therapists and hygienists are available and can do references. With proper training and monitoring of the lower management workforce, they may be able to function in this capacity
"We must also push for increased coverage of dental procedures in the National Health Insurance Scheme as part of what is needed to ensure the good oral health of Nigerians."
Permanent Secretary of Oyo State Hospital Management Board and Chairman on occasion, Dr. Muftua Ayoola assured that the state government seeks to mitigate the effect of emigration of health care workers in the state due to its impact on the quality of health care services, job overload on available health care workers, and state health indices.
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