NATIONAL ORAL HEALTH PROGRAMME

Oral health is important for overall health and good quality of life. Oral diseases affect all the age groups. Some common oral diseases are dental caries, periodontal diseases, malocclusion, oral sub-mucous fibrosis, oral cancer,cleft lip and cleft palate etc.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), Oral health is a state of being free from chronic mouth and facial pain, oral and throat cancer, oral sores, birth defects such as cleft lip and palate, periodontal (gum) disease, tooth decay and tooth loss, and other diseases and disorders that affect the oral cavity.

Dental caries and gum diseases affect nearly 60% and 80%, of the Indian population, respectively. Oral diseases have also been linked to bacterial endocarditis, atherosclerosis, chronic obstructive lung diseases and preterm low birth weight. Periodontal health has directly linked with diabetes.

Routine dental check-ups and early intervention can prevent most common dental problems.To our dismayoral health has been neglected over the years, due to lack of awareness among general population and even the care providers, especially in the underprivileged areas.According to the data from Dental Council of India, 72% of the population live in villages which remain deprived from dental care.

Though some states have made progress in providing comprehensive oral health care through its primary care system, a lot still remains to be achieved in the whole country. Therefore, oral health care delivery of the country needs to be strengthened for efficient oral health care delivery and improvement of oral health indicators and overall health of the population of the country

Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India has envisaged the National Oral Health Program [NOHP] for an affordable, accessible and equitable oral health care delivery in a well- coordinated manner for bringing about “optimal oral health” for all by 2020.

OBJECTIVES:

• To improve the determinants of oral health
• To reduce morbidity from oral diseases
• To integrate oral health promotion and preventive services with general health care system
• To encourage Promotion of Public Private Partnerships (PPP) model for achieving better oral health.

To achieve these objectives, Government of India has decided to assist the State Governments in initiating provision of dental care along with other ongoing health programmes implemented at various levels of the primary health care system under the umbrella of National Health Mission.

Through NOHP, states areprovided necessary funds by the government of India to establish dental units equipped with necessary trained manpower, equipment including dental chair and consumable dental materials.

Government of India also helps in developing prototype Information, Education and Communication (IEC) materials/Behaviour Change Communication (BCC) materials for dissemination of information and to raise awareness about Oral Health across the country.

Monitoring of programme implementation and progress of NOHP is carried out bythe National Oral Health Cell (NOHC) at central level and at state levelprogramme is monitored by state nodal officer. Organizational structure of NOHPincludes: