Dental health among Greenlandic young children alarming
Dental health among Greenlandic children and young people are so poor that toddlers as young as one year of age are milk teeth pulled out.
"We can often remove bad teeth due to advanced caries in young children," says dentist George Ramstedt Jensen Tasiilaq.
"If you do not fit in his teeth, you can get pneumonia, and this goes not only beyond the teeth but also the rest of the body are affected," said dental assistant Johanne Hansen KNR.
A few years ago the regular dental rinse with fluoride stopped in Tasiilaq, and children and young people have not had regular dental examinations or training in toothbrushing.
Tasiilaq is planning to offer all school children have regular dental examinations and instruction in brushing. And now reintroduce the regular fluorine rinses in children.
Nationwide cariesstrategi
The Greenland Home Rule launched else in 2006 a nationwide strategy against caries called Cariesstrategi Greenland from 2008 to 2012 , as part of the Public Health Programme Inuuneritta . The strategic plan aimed, among other things by intensifying efforts for prevention of caries, and it should be mandatory by 1 January 2008 with systematic dental treatment for the population, or at least a systematic dental care for children and young people, if there should be sufficient capacity or finances to the entire population.
The National Tandbørstedag
As a direct cause of the poor dental health among the population of Greenland, introduced the Greenland Home Rule, 18 april 2007, the first country in the world, a national tandbørstedag. National Tandbørstedag in Greenland is 18 april.
Greenland National Tandbørstedag, 18 april - Photo: Fair Booklet on National tandbørstedag
