GAMBIANS LAMENT DENTAL WOES: AHMADIYYA HOSPITAL TO RESCUE

"The Ahmadiyya Hospital has been very helpful to people who are afflicted by tooth decay."

Ahmadiyya Times | News Staff | Int'l Desk
Source & Credit: Today, Gambia
By AMAT JENG| 28 January, 2010

Gambians have described tooth decay and the resultant tooth ache as one of the most pressing and often overlooked health issues in the country.

A walk around any major dental clinic in the country will give a clear indication of just how widespread dental ailments are, especially among the women folk. 

In a bid to capture the feeling of some of these people, our reporter was in the Ahmadiyya Hospital at Talinding and has sought audience with people who are affected by the ailment.

One Amadou Jallow, who said he had been affected by the disease for the past few years, said he was there to uproot two of his teeth, which had been hindering him from carrying out his work effectively. He said since he started suffering from tooth ache he has great difficulty eating food.

He said he always consumes liquidized food which is not healthy for a young hustler like himself; who does heavy work.

Amadou said during his stay in the village; because he uses chewing sticks, which he obtains from trees, he never fell victim to tooth ache.

He said: “But in the town, people consume different types of food, and at the same time use different types of toothpaste, which no human can tell how and what it is made from and people would continue to face the problem.” He posited that sweets also contribute to the factors that lead to tooth ache.

He further said concerned individuals in society should find lasting solutions to the problem because it is a painful experience uprooting teeth anytime a tooth ache surfaces.

He said if some kind of permanent solution is not found he would soon lose all his teeth to the disease as he has lost four already.

He also said he was given different types of remedies at different points but they only eased the pain for a short time and were not a lasting solution to the problem, which is the dreaded uprooting which he is loathe to do.

Sohna who claimed to have being sitting there since the early hours of  the morning, said she has not slept well in recent years, and the medicine she was given proved futile.

She added that, in most cases in The Gambia, people prefer the lasting solution; which involves getting rid of the tooth.

She opined that sometimes, she also realizes, germs move from tooth to tooth. Sohna said the cause may be found in consuming too many sweets and tooth picking which can boty lead to holes in the affected tooth.

She stressed that the Ahmadiyya Hospital has been very helpful to people who are afflicted by tooth decay.

When asked if she felt the pain of removing the tooth, she answered in the negative. She said the dentist is professional, in the sense that he is very careful about making sure the patient is as comfortable as possible. 




Read here: Gambians lament dental woes