According to the third national oral epidemiological survey, 93% of the people surveyed nationwide are suffering oral diseases to different extent.
Children and the middle and elder people are confronting serious oral health status in our city. The rate of decayed primary tooth of children aged 5 reaches 59%, of which 80% receives no cure; as to the children aged 12, 70% of the permanent tooth caries are not well treated. The case is even worse with the middle and elder people, whose dental caries rate amounts to 63%, and up to 85% of them are not cured. The periodontal health status is more worrying. According to the survey, 63% of the children aged 12 are suffering gingivitis to different extent, while more than 95% of the middle and elder people are tortured by periodontal diseases. Compared with the status 10 years ago, both the teenagers and the middle and elder people are facing a higher risk of periodontal diseases.
In order to prevent children’s dental caries, Beijing municipal government has carried out the project of “Pit and Fissure Sealant on Caries Prevention” free of charge for the children aged from 7 to 8 in our city since 2005. During the 2 years of implementation, the government appropriated a fund of 8.73 million RMB in total, entitled 230,000 children the access to “Pit and Fissure Sealant on Caries Prevention”, and thus effectively prevented the prevalence of children’s dental caries. This year, the municipal government again allocated a fund of 5.03 million RMB to launch a third round of “Pit and Fissure Sealant on Caries Prevention” project.
In recent years, we have kept attaching importance to the prevention of dental caries for students in primary and middle schools. In addition, we have also promoted the popularization of oral health knowledge among the middle and elder people. Last year, we issued an activity of “A hundred courses of oral health knowledge into the masses”, which held 106 lectures and nearly 10,000 audience participated in. We will continue our a hundred free health courses this year for the staff of enterprises and institutions and community residents to achieve comprehensive publication of oral health care knowledge.
This year, we will offer oral health service to communities, where we will gradually establish oral surgery on the basis of its health service center to facilitate the residents’ oral health care. And still provide them with diagnosis and cure services concerning such frequent oral diseases as dental caries and periodontal diseases, etc. By doing so, we will make great efforts to improve the oral health status in Beijing.
How to prevent oral diseases?
At first, pay great attention to oral health. Do build a good habit of brushing teeth. You should brush your teeth at least twice a day, and ensure duration of 3 to 5 minutes each time. See to that you cover every single tooth of yours. If it is not very convenient to brush teeth at noon, you had better make a gargle to reduce the leftover in your mouth. A good habit of brushing your teeth and gargling is the most effective way to prevent or relieve the risk of oral diseases.
If you have suffered such oral diseases as dental caries, gingivitis or periodontal diseases, do visit the doctor as soon as possible, because such diseases cannot heal by themselves. Given no timely treatment, it will get worse. Periodontal diseases, due to its slight early symptoms, are inclined to be neglected. Do shape a sense of “early discovery, early recovery”. Therefore regular checkup is of vital importance. You should keep visiting the professional dentist, generally speaking, once a year for an adult and twice a year for a child, to do an oral checkup and treatment.
The healthy teeth criteria proposed by WHO is that: teeth clean, no caries cavities, no pains, gingival with normal color and no sign of bleeding. Healthy, orderly and fleckless teeth stands for the social civilization of a country, therefore, let us pay much attention to oral health to prevent oral diseases, and thus welcome the 2008 Olympic Games with sweet smile.