Sogakope, June 30, GNA - Dr Paul Matondo, a Dental Surgeon at the South-Tongu District Hospital at Sogakope, has said the endemic ignorance among a majority of Ghanaians about basic oral hygiene was a big concern among dental experts.

"Basic issues about what a tooth decay is, what to do to prevent oral diseases, or what one does in case of a problem are not known by many, mainly in the rural areas," he said.

Dr Matondo said this in an interview with the Ghana News Agency when he led a team of health workers to do free medical screening for residents in the South-Tongu District on Thursday at Sogokope. The exercise was part of an interactive programme the South-Tongu District Assembly organised to mobilize civil support for its activities.

Clean-up exercises, games, health outreaches, film shows on sanitation and a durbar climaxing the programme on Friday at which the people would demand answers to issues bordering them are the high points in the programme.

Dr Matondo stated that an average of 15 dental cases were reported daily at the District Hospital and many required simple and less expensive care but instead looked elsewhere until their problems became complicated.

He asked the people to keep clean dental hygiene, seek advice when in doubt, use fluoride-laced toothpastes and go for check-ups with the dentist at least once in a year.

Malaria and hypertension were other diseases treated during the outreach that benefited about 500 people including school children.