Jamaica's dentist-to-patient ratio one of the region's worst, says professor

(L-R) Senior product manager at Kirk Distributors Limited, Keisha Cardoza; Sonia Nairne, co-ordinator of the dental auxiliary of nurses in the Ministry of Health; Dr Irvin McKenzie, director of dental services; and Dr Tanya Perry, president of the Jamaica Dental Association view a chart with information on the various types of peridontal diseases at yesterday's launch of Oral Health Month, at the University of Technology in St Andrew. (Photo: Bryan Cummings)

Jamaica's dentist-to-patient ratio one of the region's worst, says professor
Calls for more oral health training programmes
Friday, October 02, 2009
CITING a severe shortage of dentists in Jamaica, Professor Winston Davidson, head of the School of Public Health and Health Technology at the University of Technology (UTech), has called for more local institutions to offer oral health care training.
Citing data he said he obtained from the Ministry of Health, Professor Davidson said the current dentist-to-patient ratio is one to 17,000 - one of the worst in the Caribbean and Latin America and way above the recommended ratio by the World Health and Pan-American Health organisations of one dentist to every 2,750 citizens.
"In the 70s, the (health) minister and myself made clear provisions as a policy for the training of dentists. No university at the time took up the offer," Professor Davidson lamented yesterday at the launch of Oral Health Month at the university's Papine, St Andrew, campus.

"The demand for proper dental care cannot be fulfilled without proper professional leadership in the area of dental care. And even though we have the training of dental auxiliaries, even though we have put in place the policies of fluoridation of our water supplies so as to decrease dental caries," he said.

"The time has come for our training institutions to step up to the plate and begin the training programme of dentistry and all the other allied professions surrounding," he added.

Jamaica, he said, has one of the worst incidence of peridontal diseases in the world.

"If we look at periodontal diseases - diseases of the gum, diseases surrounding the dental infrastructure of the mouth - Jamaica is in the top 15 in the world for the incidents of periodontal diseases. That is, in fact, the only condition that Jamaica is so badly off as far as the pattern of diseases in the world known," he said. ...............................