Medical and Dental Consultants Association of Nigeria (MDCAN) has tasked Nigerians on personal hygiene, saying it is the key to preventing many dental challenges.

Grace Otokpa, chairman of MDCAN in the University of Abuja Teaching Hospital Branch (MDCAN-UATH), made the call on Thursday at the opening ceremony of the 2023 annual general meeting of the association.

The theme for the AGM is “Sustaining Medical Practice in a Distressed Economy: The Role of MDCAN.”

Ms Otokpa said to prevent dental issues specifically “carrises”, personal hygiene was key, saying it was the number one medicine to prevent any teeth challenges.

She said Nigerians must imbibe the character of regular check-ups of their teeth, adding that the medical exercise must be undertaken like any other. 

“Sometimes people think that these carrises, that is hole in the teeth and others, are just official; carrises go beyond just that.

“When people have these oral conditions like delta carrises and some other conditions in the mouth, they can actually predispose someone to more sinister conditions like romantic fibular, heart diseases and others,” she said.

Innocent Ujah, the vice-chancellor, Federal University of Health Sciences, Otukpo (FUHSO), Benue State, who was the keynote speaker at the event, discouraged young doctors from seeking jobs abroad, saying there was nothing so special about it.

Mr Ujah advised Nigeria’s government to work towards transforming the country’s economy to encourage health workers to stay back in the country.

Mr Ujah, a former national chairman of the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA), urged governments at all levels to properly equip their health facilities to discourage medical tourism.

“There should be improved and sustained primary health care for every citizen; there should be further investment on health; political office holders should have political will to develop the health sector in tandem with international best practice.

Bissallah Ekele, the chief medical director, UATH, said he had employed both long and short-term planning strategies in doing his best to promote the activities of the teaching hospital.

He said the management employed both short and long term plans as strategies to address some of the challenges at the hospital over the past six years.

(NAN)