Dr.Gautam Sharma
People in general and particularly children should always keep in mind that oral health not only affects the appearance but also the behavior and overall personality of a person.
Children who have the habit of consuming fast foods, sweet beverages, and sticky candies are prone to develop dental caries and periodontal disease at early age. Caries can be very painful and if left untreated may cause serious infection of head and neck region. A patient with caries and periodontal disease faces difficulty in chewing food properly which in further course leads to problems with the digestion. Intake of inadequate quantity of food along with poor digestion certainly leads to overall health deterioration of that particular patient and behavioral problems. Not only India but most of the developing countries are facing these problems.
A patient with dental problem generally shirks consulting a dentist at the initial stage. The only reason which brings him to a dentist is an attack of a severe dental pain. Some patients even then do not approach a dentist but try to get relief with homemade remedies. Thereafter sometime this acute stage slips into the chronic stage and pain subsides. But they are unaware that this may be the invitation to some fatal disease.
In my previous article” J&K has highest number of smokers” I discussed about the Jammu and Kashmir state which has become the smoking capital of India. Another public health issue has cropped up recently and that is the increasing number of people who are indulging in the habit of chewing tobacco in J&K. I have seen a considerable increase in cases of tobacco pouch lesion on buccal mucosa as well as leukoplakia, which is a precancerous or premalignant condition. This is alarming for the health authorities of our state. The industrial workers as well as the labour class that has migrated to J&K from the states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Orissa, Chhattisgarh etc in search of work are worst affected by these lesions due to heavy use of chewing tobacco. This is leading to some more complex public health issues as some of these people are already suffering from the diseases like Tuberculosis (TB), and frequent spitting during the use of chewable tobacco leads to the spreading of TB to general public. The government and health authorities are finding it difficult to tackle multi-drug resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) and Extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB).
As per the report of the Jammu and Kashmir state TB Cell of the Directorate of Health Services, the state has registered 11172 Tuberculosis positive patients in 2013 and 1032 fresh cases recorded in two months in January and February 2014.
The solution to all these problems is strengthening Public Health or Community Health infrastructure in our state. Not only screening of disease at an early stage but also to impart health education at community level by experts and specialists in public health is need of the hour. If need arises then doctors, dental surgeons and other health care professionals can be deputed for specialisation in public health to other countries like the United Kingdom where every University has a department dedicated only for this speciality as community health is given utmost importance in the countries of Europe.
Recently, Jammu & Kashmir bagged two cancer institute, one each at summer and winter capital of the state which is a welcome step but at the primary level strengthening of public health infrastructure is required so that the people do not indulge in the deleterious habits so that they have to rush to tertiary institutes for the treatment purposes.
If early steps are not taken then J&K is sure to become the Oral Cancer and Tuberculosis capital of India after having been placed number one in smoking.
(The writer is Dental Surgeon)
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