Surveys from various Indian cities have revealed that nearly 65% of the adult population has at least one tooth with apical periodontitis (AP), a condition that eventually leads to tooth extraction.
World Endodontics Day, which will be celebrated on Monday, will focus on the message of how people should care for their natural teeth after extraction.
The campaign aims to raise awareness of the need to protect natural teeth from infections and root canal extractions. The campaign also aims to draw attention to the need for government and health care planners to make oral health an integral priority of the overall national health care mission.
People are aware of dental caries, or tooth decay, as a common disease of the oral cavity. However, few realize that dental caries in a tooth slowly progresses within a year and goes deeper into the tooth, causing dental nerve pain and bone infection around the root of the tooth, causing apical periodontitis (AP), said Gopi Krishna, secretary . general for the International Federation of Endodontic Associations (IFEA).
“Half of the adult population worldwide has at least one diseased tooth with AP,” he said, citing a finding from a global study covering more than 40 countries, including India. The study was published last year in International journal of endodontics. “Data from surveys conducted in various Indian cities revealed that close to two-thirds (65%) of India’s adult population has at least one tooth with apical periodontitis,” he added.
This calls for a nationwide awareness campaign and efforts are needed to reduce the disease that would affect every alternative Indian in their lives in the coming decades, posing a huge burden on public and government health care spending.
