A child has his teeth examined at a HCMC dental clinic. Experts report that 80-90 percent of Vietnamese children aged six to eight have tooth decay.

A recent conference highlighted an alarming rate of dental disease among the country’s youth and the need to improve dental education.

It is estimated that 80-90 percent of children aged six to eight have tooth decay, said Trinh Dinh Hai, head of the National Institute of Odonto-Stomatology Vietnam (NIOS).

Each child has as many as six decayed baby (or milk) teeth, Hai said at the conference held by the Ministry of Health (MOH) in cooperation with the Ministry of Education and Training (MoET) on Wednesday.

And most children don’t receive proper treatment for their decayed teeth, Hai said.

More than 60 percent of children and 50 percent of adults have never had a dental exam, the conference heard.

The number of children with tooth and mouth disease in urban areas is higher than other areas, despite urban children receiving better dental and stomatological care, the Administration of Preventive Medicine under MOH reported.

This is thought to be due to the increased amount of sweets consumed by urban children, the agency said, adding that a lack of fluoride in children’s diets could also contribute to cavities.

The number of children with inclined, or severely crooked teeth, also stands at around 80-90 percent. Experts said this was due to children’s baby teeth not receiving proper and timely care.

Dental services dearth

All schools are required to offer dental education, exams and services at school, but according to HCMC Central Hospital of Odontology and Stomatology Vice Director Ngo Dong Khanh, a school dentist may have from 13,000 to 17,000 patients.

The number of student patients may be as high as 30,000 for dentists working in the Central Highlands region and disadvantaged provinces.

The rates for other countries stand between 1/500 and 1/1,000, according to Khanh.

According to the conference, just eight out of the country’s 64 provinces and cities currently provide qualified dental care services at school for primary students.

NIOS said 46 provinces lack the human resources necessary to run dental programs at schools while poor policies make it difficult to attract new staff.

Forty-seven provinces, meanwhile, said they suffer from a shortage of funding and cannot afford dental programs. Thirty-three provinces reported not having sufficient dental devices and machinery to offer services.

Other experts said there needs to be better cooperation between health and educational agencies.

Difficulties with human resources and funding have forced several school dental offices to stop operating, said Dr. Nguyen Tai Dung, in charge of school health under the HCMC Education and Training Department.

He said 39 out of 400 primary schools in the southern hub have closed down their dental offices, while nearly 26 percent reported they were struggling to keep their offices open.

A representative from central coastal Khanh Hoa Province’s Health Department said schools can employ vocational school graduates to run dental care programs with the provision of further training, instead of recruiting dentists with university degrees.

Hai said it is not expensive to run dental care programs at schools and that communities should work the cost into their annual budget or require parents to help pay.

Without a preventive program, it will cost much more in the long run to treat tooth and mouth diseases, said Hai.

He suggested that MoET introduce dental care programs into its criteria for ranking a school.

La Quy Don, deputy head of the Student Affairs Department under MoET, said one of the ministry’s immediate objectives is to establish courses to train health staff for schools, while improving the skills of current staff to make dental care programs more effective.

Source: The Ho Chi Minh City Odonto-maxillo-facial Hospital’s website