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Jakarta Post

Oral health has been long neglected. This should change

In community health centers (Puskesmas) where dentists were absent, there was no dental public health program for the community. 

Nabilah Kusuma Wardhani (The Jakarta Post)
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Malang, East Java
Sat, March 18, 2023

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Oral health has been long neglected. This should change Say 'aahh’: A dentist checks the teeth of a preschool student of Al Fatah Kindergarten in Depok, West Java, on Feb. 3. The activity was part of efforts to raise children’s awareness about dental health. (Antara/Yulius Satria Wijaya)

T

he World Health Organization has stated that oral health diseases have long been neglected, despite approximately 3.5 billion people worldwide suffering from these illnesses. The costs required to heal oral health problems are not small, and in Indonesia, most cases are not covered by the national health insurance scheme.

The government needs to provide dental and oral health facilities, ranging from tools and materials for curative and rehabilitative treatment, but this costs a lot. For example, oral surgery for a person with a benign jaw tumor costs more than Rp 1 million (US$64.88), even if it is covered by the national health insurance. Preventive and promotive health care is no longer a causal factor in that problem since the person is already sick and needs surgery.

Strengthening preventive and promotive healthcare can reduce the incidences of disease and the cost that Indonesia has to pay to cure the disease in the future.

As a community service program volunteer in Malang regency, in a place not too far from healthcare facilities, I bear witness to the heart-breaking truths regarding well-being. Low-income families allocate less than 1 percent of their monthly income for education and health. Parents tend to neglect oral health, causing a high level of severe caries in children that lead to an increased risk of other diseases.

It is a shame that I still meet parents who do not understand or are not aware of how to care for their children's teeth. Children who cannot yet communicate their dental sickness to their parents are also left to feel pain due to toothache. Not to mention if the toothache deprives the children of their appetite, which results in malnutrition.

The statement "health is the right of every human being" is echoed everywhere, but in practice, there are still many who do not enjoy the right to health, including in Indonesia. Therefore, access to health information, including dental health, for families is needed.

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According to 2022 data from the Health Ministry, 3,285 community health centers (Puskesmas) across Indonesia have no dentists. The survey I conducted with my fellow dentists revealed that in Puskesmas where dentists were absent, there was no dental public health program for the community.

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