Oral health worldwide

The report highlights the key impediments to achieving universal oral health, considered by most a human right.(3) It also suggests that oral health is an essential portion of general health and vital to the overall welfare of all people. It was presented at the British Dental Association (BDA) in London by Dr. Jean-Luc Eiselé, executive director of FDI and by David Williams, professor of Global Oral Health, Bart's and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry. There is a fact sheet on “Dental Diseases and Oral Health.”(4) The report outlines how oral cancer is among the ten most common cancers in the world, especially in low-income and under developed countries. In Southeast Asia, men have a higher incidence of oral cancer and mortality rates than women. The risk of oral cancer is fifteen times higher when one uses both tobacco alcohol, and these two risk factors account for approximately 90% of oral cancers in this part of the world.(1) Also, the report shows that periodontal diseases are the leading cause of tooth loss around the globe. Noma is widespread in developing countries, with many people left untreated. Noma is a rapidly progressive, polymicrobial, opportunistic infection that occurs during periods of compromised immune function.(5) It is a devastating gangrenous infection affecting the face. The victims of Noma are mainly children under the age of 6, caught in a vicious circle of extreme poverty and chronic malnutrition.(5)