Oral and Dental Health

Disease Situation | Strategic directions and priorities | Publications | Related links 

Oral health is an essential component of health in general. Good oral health enables an individual to speak, eat and socialize without active disease, discomfort or embarrassment. It implies being free of chronic oro-facial pain, oral mucosal lesions, and maxillofacial traumas. Oral diseases cause untold pain and suffering, disruption of daily performance, and therefore present an economic burden to society.

Disease Situation

The WHO African Region is confronted by a number of oral health problems and pays particular concern to dental caries, periodontal diseases, noma, oro-facial trauma, the oral manifestations of HIV infection, birth defects (cleft lip and palate) and oral cancer.

Dental caries (tooth decay/ cavities) and periodontal (gum) diseases affect the vast majority of people across all socioeconomic contexts, resulting in oro-facial infections and tooth loss when inadequately treated. Between 60% and 80% of school-age children in the African Region, who represent the most vulnerable group, are believed to be affected. Increasing incidence rates of caries in Africa are attributable to increasingly widespread adoption of sugar-rich diets and inadequate exposure to fluorides. Tooth decay is of particular concern in resource poor situations because of its negative impact on childhood nutrition, growth and weight gain.

Among HIV-infected patients, the prevalence of oral lesions associated with the infection varies between 50% and 60%; the severity of these lesions is recognized as an indicator of HIV infection and a prediction of progression of the infection into AIDS. The oral manifestations of HIV/AIDS commonly include candidiasis, necrotizing gingivitis or oral hairy leukoplakia.

Oral pre-cancers and cancers are increasing in many countries generally due to exposure to tobacco, alcohol and culture-specific habits such as betel nut consumption. In 2005, the age-standardized incidence of oropharyngeal cancers was 6.9 per 100 000 inhabitants in eastern and southern Africa. Another important problem related to oral health is the increasing oro-facial trauma resulting from interpersonal violence, road traffic injuries and war.

In addition to these conditions, noma is a major public health problem for the African Region. This disease which is slowly gaining ground in some poor countries kills or disfigures its victims for the rest of their lives, and thus constitutes a real obstacle to the achievement of health for all. Most of the time those victims are children aged from 2 to 6 years. The aetiology of noma is multifactorial through complex interaction between malnutrition, infectious diseases and compromised immunity. In most cases, noma is commonly preceded by measles, malaria, severe diarrhea and necrotizing ulcerative gingivitis. In the African Region, noma occurs in 39 out of 46 countries and annual incidence is 20 cases per 100 000 with a mortality rate of approximately 70%-90% in the absence of treatment. Based on notifications by 22 countries in 2006, the number of cases was estimated at 42 800.

Focal person for Oral and Dental Health:

Dr Benoit Varenne
Tel-Office: + 47 241 39494
Tel-Mobile: + 242 057 226 429
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