The Primary Health Care Corporation revealed that it received 238 thousand and 171 visitors to dental clinics in its health centers during the past year 2022, including 129 thousand and 315 visitors by pre-booking appointments, while direct visits to clinics without an appointment amounted to 147 thousand and 27 visits.
Dr. Rami Ahmed, Director of the Dental Department at the Primary Health Care Corporation, said that the number of dental clinics in the Corporation has now reached 154 clinics distributed to all 31 health care centers in the State of Qatar, as the clinics provide comprehensive primary health services in both general dentistry And specialized dentistry, for all age groups.
He added in a press statement today that the services in these clinics focus mainly on prevention and early detection of dental and gum diseases and avoiding them before they develop into advanced stages, in addition to coordination between specialties and other levels of health care to provide an integrated health plan.
The services provided in general dental clinics also include preventive treatments such as fluoride application, cosmetic fillings, glass ionomer fillings, and gum cleaning in the event of gum disease, such as cleaning from calcareous deposits or in cases of periodic preventive cleaning, in addition to nerve fillings for the front teeth and tooth extraction services for simple cases. Which does not require transfer to secondary or tertiary care.
With regard to specialized dental clinics, they include a specialized oral surgery clinic, nerve treatment clinics, pediatric dental clinics, and gum disease clinics. The oral surgery clinic provides medical services such as extraction of worn teeth and wisdom teeth. As for complex cases or those that require a more complex level of health care, It is transferred to secondary or tertiary care, such as Hamad General Hospital.
As for the nerve treatment clinic, it provides canal treatment services for the back teeth, and the pediatric dental clinics provide children’s dental services and educate parents on the importance of maintaining clean teeth, while the periodontal disease treatment clinic provides advanced periodontal treatment services for the supporting tissues of the teeth affected by gum disease.
Dr. Rami Ahmed mentioned that the most important reasons for the spacing of appointments in dental clinics is the failure of many patients to attend their prior appointments, as the percentage of appointments whose owners failed to attend last year 2022 reached nearly 20 percent of the total appointments booked in advance, which requires more efforts to educate members of society. The importance of attending the recorded appointment or taking the procedures for canceling the appointment in the event that you do not wish to attend in order to allow the opportunity for other auditors to obtain the necessary care.
On the other hand, he pointed out that the recent allocation of health centers for Qatari citizens contributed significantly and significantly in easing the pressures and spacing between appointments, especially with the continuation of providing services to them in all health centers affiliated to the Foundation without any change, as the centers in which dental clinics were allocated to citizens only include Leabib centers, Muaither, Al Thumama, and South Al Wakra, in addition to the newly opened centers, which are Al Khor, Al Sadd, Al Mashaf and Umm Al Seneem.
On the other hand, with regard to how to deal with gum and mouth cancer, the Director of the Dental Department at the Primary Health Care Corporation said that the early detection of oral cancer in dental clinics is a vital service, and it is one of the services that have been put on the agenda in the future, as oral cancer screening seeks to discover diseases that May lead to oral cancer at an early stage.
He pointed out that the people who benefit most from this service are those who are at greater risk of developing gum and mouth cancer, such as cases of chronic use of tobacco of all kinds, cases recovering from a previous infection of mouth cancer, cases whose family history contains similar injuries, and cases of severe sun exposure, which leads to It increases the risk of lip cancer.
Regarding the most common types of oral diseases in Qatar, Dr. Rami Ahmed explained that tooth decay is more common than in the rest of the world, and this includes tooth decay and gum disease, due to many factors and reasons, including lack of awareness of the importance of oral health and the practice of good oral hygiene habits from an early age, as well as awareness of the importance of Proper nutrition in addition to some bad habits such as smoking and chewing tobacco.
He called for maintaining daily cleaning habits, brushing teeth at least twice, periodic visits to the dentist, applying preventive treatments, following healthy diets such as foods that contain vitamins and minerals, drinking plenty of water and liquids, but without sweetening them with sugar.
