Resources for oral health in Africa
Oral health in Africa is often overlooked despite its substantial impact on overall health and well-being. Currently, Africa has a very high prevalence of dental diseases, including untreated dental caries in permanent teeth, severe periodontal disease and oral cancer. Dental human resources are als...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2025-02-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Oral Health |
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| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/froh.2025.1540944/full |
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| author | Moréniké Oluwátóyìn Foláyan Moréniké Oluwátóyìn Foláyan Ahmed Bhayat Ahmed Bhayat Sara S. Mikhail Nicaise Ndembi Maha El Tantawi Maha El Tantawi |
| author_facet | Moréniké Oluwátóyìn Foláyan Moréniké Oluwátóyìn Foláyan Ahmed Bhayat Ahmed Bhayat Sara S. Mikhail Nicaise Ndembi Maha El Tantawi Maha El Tantawi |
| author_sort | Moréniké Oluwátóyìn Foláyan |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Oral health in Africa is often overlooked despite its substantial impact on overall health and well-being. Currently, Africa has a very high prevalence of dental diseases, including untreated dental caries in permanent teeth, severe periodontal disease and oral cancer. Dental human resources are also very low, with dentists ranging from 1.77 to 0.03 per 10,000 population across the continent. The number of technicians also varies across the continent from 0.17 to.0.1 per 10,000 population. Southern Africa has the highest median dental assistants and therapists per 10,000 population ratio (0.2), whereas Northern Africa has no dental assistants or therapists. In addition, limited infrastructure and funding have resulted in significant oral health disparities, leaving large portions of the population without adequate access to oral health services. Only 57% of African countries have developed an oral health policy that sets targets and implementation strategies. African countries have also been shown to spend a fraction of their health budget on oral health care, albeit that dentistry is one of the most expensive medical services. Addressing these gaps requires addressing the oral health workforce needs, facilitating the development of oral health policies built on context-specific evidence, and guiding practice and policy. In addition, partnerships are needed to support innovation, sustainability and monitoring of the instituted oral health programs. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-b6f6164cdcf54033949638de30d2c377 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2673-4842 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-02-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Oral Health |
| spelling | doaj-art-b6f6164cdcf54033949638de30d2c3772025-02-07T06:49:37ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Oral Health2673-48422025-02-01610.3389/froh.2025.15409441540944Resources for oral health in AfricaMoréniké Oluwátóyìn Foláyan0Moréniké Oluwátóyìn Foláyan1Ahmed Bhayat2Ahmed Bhayat3Sara S. Mikhail4Nicaise Ndembi5Maha El Tantawi6Maha El Tantawi7The Africa Oral Health Network (AFRONE), Alexandria University, Alexandria, EgyptDepartment of Child Dental Health, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife, NigeriaThe Africa Oral Health Network (AFRONE), Alexandria University, Alexandria, EgyptDepartment of Community Dentistry, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South AfricaDepartment of Pediatric Dentistry and Dental Public Health, Alexandria University, Alexandria, EgyptDivision of Epidemiology and Prevention, Institute of Human Virology, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, United StatesThe Africa Oral Health Network (AFRONE), Alexandria University, Alexandria, EgyptDepartment of Pediatric Dentistry and Dental Public Health, Alexandria University, Alexandria, EgyptOral health in Africa is often overlooked despite its substantial impact on overall health and well-being. Currently, Africa has a very high prevalence of dental diseases, including untreated dental caries in permanent teeth, severe periodontal disease and oral cancer. Dental human resources are also very low, with dentists ranging from 1.77 to 0.03 per 10,000 population across the continent. The number of technicians also varies across the continent from 0.17 to.0.1 per 10,000 population. Southern Africa has the highest median dental assistants and therapists per 10,000 population ratio (0.2), whereas Northern Africa has no dental assistants or therapists. In addition, limited infrastructure and funding have resulted in significant oral health disparities, leaving large portions of the population without adequate access to oral health services. Only 57% of African countries have developed an oral health policy that sets targets and implementation strategies. African countries have also been shown to spend a fraction of their health budget on oral health care, albeit that dentistry is one of the most expensive medical services. Addressing these gaps requires addressing the oral health workforce needs, facilitating the development of oral health policies built on context-specific evidence, and guiding practice and policy. In addition, partnerships are needed to support innovation, sustainability and monitoring of the instituted oral health programs.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/froh.2025.1540944/fulldental cariesperiodontal diseaseslip neoplasmshealth workforcedental techniciansdental assistants |
| spellingShingle | Moréniké Oluwátóyìn Foláyan Moréniké Oluwátóyìn Foláyan Ahmed Bhayat Ahmed Bhayat Sara S. Mikhail Nicaise Ndembi Maha El Tantawi Maha El Tantawi Resources for oral health in Africa Frontiers in Oral Health dental caries periodontal diseases lip neoplasms health workforce dental technicians dental assistants |
| title | Resources for oral health in Africa |
| title_full | Resources for oral health in Africa |
| title_fullStr | Resources for oral health in Africa |
| title_full_unstemmed | Resources for oral health in Africa |
| title_short | Resources for oral health in Africa |
| title_sort | resources for oral health in africa |
| topic | dental caries periodontal diseases lip neoplasms health workforce dental technicians dental assistants |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/froh.2025.1540944/full |
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