Manual on oral hygiene for health workers, school teachers launched

Union Minister of State for Health Ashwini Kumar Choubey today said high incidence of oral cancers can be prevented if oral hygiene is maintained and use of tobacco is avoided, as he released a manual on oral health promotion for health workers and school teachers.

At an event to mark World Oral Health Day, the minister said the manual encompasses health, disease and prevention components and highlights basic oral healthcare, and the role of health workers, and school teachers regarding common dental diseases.

"High incidence of oral cancers can be prevented if we maintain oral hygiene and avoid use of tobacco. It's high time that good oral hygiene becomes a social movement -- Jan Abhiyaan," Choubey said.

"We need to educate children right at the beginning for good oral health so that they can become our health ambassadors," he said.

Noting that 25 per cent cancers in India are mouth cancers, the minister said there is a need for information on dos and don'ts.

This would be effective and if children have this information they can take decisions about their eating habits to prevent the diseases, Choubey said, adding that health is everyone's right.

He said the government will do everything so that this information reaches every nook and corner of the country and asserted that for this to happen it is important to translate the manual into Hindi and regional languages.

Choubey further said the manual on oral hygiene for health workers is a comprehensive output for training frontline workers on oral health promotion as it familiarises them workers with features of a healthy mouth.

He also said the manual outlines the basic features of oral diseases which will guide the frontline workers.

"It also outlines the duties to be performed for promoting oral health in families and communities," the Union minister said, adding that the manual gives tips on dental emergency management like acute tooth pain, trauma, bleeding and swelling or abscess.

About the manual for school teachers, Choubey said it aims at enhancing the role of teachers and the school environment in a child's health.

"It describes common oral diseases among children, their prevention and some initiatives that maybe executed at school level to improve oral health and reduce absenteeism due to acute dental pain," he said.

Union Health secretary Preeti Sudan said that there is an urgent need to get these manuals translated in other languages so that people from other states can also benefit from those.

She said the manual also connects the teachers to the parents and the communities at large, reiterating the concept of an Integrated School Community.