A study has found that oral cancer is a major problem in India, and accounts for about 50 – 70 per cent of the cancer diagnosed in the country.
Another study by the Nitte University Journal of Health Science on oral cancer awareness, finds that the disease accounted for about 2,00,000 deaths around the globe, whereas it causes 46,000 deaths in India, annually.
A Times of India report from 2016, stated that 3 per cent of the youth in Bangalore, are under the risk of oral cancer.
On the occasion of World Oral Health Day on Tuesday, the Foreign Development Investment (FDI) -World Dental Federation- launched its largest global awareness campaign.
The theme for this year was- “Say Ahh: Think Mouth, Think Health” and will be in force for three years.
“FDI stresses on creating global awareness, adopted and promoted, and curated programs by several national dental associations, 90 per cent of people would suffer from oral diseases in their lifetime, In a developing country like ours, it may as well reach 100 per cent,” Dr. Nagesh Lakshminarayan, the head of the department at Public Health Dentistry in Bapuji Dental College and Hospital said.
Dr. Ranganatha, Secretary of the Karnataka Dental Association, said that this was the first time that the department of health and family welfare services organized an event like this to celebrate the world oral health day.
Dr.Manjunath. P. Puranik, head of Department of Government Dental College and Research Institute, Bangalore, stated that this drive will help decrease oral cancer cases.
Dr.Revan Joshi, one of the organizers, said that they were looking to increase the awareness about oral health by having a lot of health camps, which will be initiated by citizens in association with the health ministry of Karnataka, as well as projects to prevent oral cancer.
