This information was provided by Pr Lawrence Essama, a dentist in the stomatology department of Douala General Hospital.

 “To date, carious pathology accounts for 80% of consultations in the stomatology department of Douala General Hospital, and its loco-regional complications (cervico-facial cellulitis) unfortunately represent one of the major causes of hospitalization for patients of all ages and genders“. These are the words of Pr Lawrence Essama Eno Belinga, a dentist. She was speaking on the occasion of World Oral Health Day.

Douala General Hospital organized an awareness-raising campaign on March 20 and 21, 2024 in its stomatology department, targeting around 500 young people as part of the celebration of World Oral Hygiene Day. “These days were devoted to providing appropriate oral hygiene tools, such as soft or medium bristle toothbrushes and fluoride toothpastes, thanks to our partner Colgate“, explains the experienced dentist.

The awareness campaign consisted of free oral health consultations, healthy lifestyle/behavior promotion, “twice-daily brushing in the morning and evening after meals with a soft toothbrush and age-appropriate fluoride toothpaste, a healthy diet low in fast sugars and rich in fruit and vegetables, stopping smoking, limiting alcohol consumption, visiting the dentist“, explains Pr Lawrence Essame.

For the latter, oral health remains a neglected aspect of health care and person-centred well- being in the African region. In Cameroon, the challenges are major and include: Reducing the burden of morbidity linked to infectious oral pathologies (dental caries, periodontal disease); and their local complications (dental abscesses, uncompensated edentulism…), or regional complications (cervico-facial cellulitis, sinusitis…).), or regional (cervico-facial cellulitis, sinusitis of dental origin…), or distant (infective endocarditis, ischemic cardiovascular pathologies); the reduction of the burden of morbidity linked to traumatic and tumoral oral pathologies, the incidence of which is clearly on the rise; access to oral health care for everyone, everywhere, in complete equity.

The theme of this year’s event, “A happy mouth is a happy body“, is therefore particularly appealing. With this theme, the FDI World Dental Federation wanted to underline the interconnection between oral health and global health. Indeed, oral diseases and the main chronic non-communicable diseases – diabetes, respiratory diseases, cardiovascular diseases and cancers – share modifiable risk factors such as alcohol, tobacco, unbalanced diet and poor oral hygiene. Furthermore, “certain general diseases (diabetes, HIV, cancers, etc.) favour the onset, progression or severity of oral diseases, and vice versa, poor oral health can have negative repercussions on quality of life and general health, in this case increasing the risk of diabetes, cardiovascular pathologies and premature deliveries, among others“, explains Prof. Essama. Recent studies in Cameroon have reported a high incidence of periodontal disease in

diabetics (type 2) and hypertensives. It goes without saying that prevention remains one of the best ways of reducing the burden of oral disease and minimizing its impact on general health.

Ghislaine DEUDJUI