Public Awareness Vital Amid High Rate Of Dental Caries In Manicaland

By Evans Jona

A SIGNIFICANT number of children in Manicaland are living with untreated dental caries, with dental practitioners attributing the persistent problem to declining public awareness, poor dietary habits, and limited access to preventative dental services.

Speaking in an interview with Post On Sunday, Mutare-based dental specialist Dr Tarzen Mugadza revealed that, from his practice, at least one in every two children he treats presents with tooth decay — often at an advanced stage.

“On average, I would say one in every two children I see has dental caries in some form,” Dr Mugadza said. “Many of these cases could be prevented if parents and guardians were more aware of the importance of early oral health care.”

Dental caries, commonly known as tooth decay, remains one of the most widespread chronic conditions affecting children in Zimbabwe. Recent studies show that 75.8% of pre-school children in the country have dental caries, with an average decayed, missing, and filled teeth (DMFT) score of 3.88. Among school-going children, the prevalence stands at 59.5% in urban areas and 40.8% in rural communities.

Dr Mugadza noted that while dental caries is influenced by various factors, the structure of a child’s teeth plays a primary role. “The number one culprit is the tooth structure itself, which is often inherited. This is then worsened by high-sugar diets, refined foods, and poor oral hygiene,” he said.

He added that rural children tend to fare slightly better due to traditional diets consisting of rough, fibrous foods like sugarcane and wild fruits, which naturally help clean teeth more effectively than processed urban diets. “The prevalence is actually higher in urban areas than in rural communities,” he explained.

According to Dr Mugadza, one of the major challenges facing dental practitioners is late presentation, with most children only brought to clinics when tooth decay is already advanced and causing severe pain or infection. “Late presentation is a clear indication that public awareness remains very low. By the time we see them, many require extractions or complicated procedures that could have been avoided with earlier intervention,” he said.

Preventative dental services such as fluoride treatments and fissure sealants, which can significantly reduce the risk of tooth decay, remain largely inaccessible to most children in Manicaland. “On a scale of 1 to 10, I would say we are at 1 when it comes to preventative services in public health institutions,” Dr Mugadza admitted.

He expressed concern over the absence of school-based oral health campaigns, which were once regularly conducted by corporate sponsors and government departments in partnership with dental practitioners. “When I started practising, companies like Colgate would bring toothbrushes and toothpaste to schools, and we would conduct awareness campaigns every couple of months. Today, those initiatives have almost disappeared,” he said.

Dr Mugadza recommended that schools be used as key entry points for raising oral health awareness among children. He further proposed collaborative efforts between private dental practitioners, government health departments, and corporate sponsors to revive mobile dental outreach programmes in schools and remote communities.

“Besides awareness campaigns, we need to go into schools and provide actual treatment. We need mobile dental chairs and easy-to-use filling materials suitable for outreach work. These efforts can make a huge difference in reducing the burden of dental disease among children,” he said.

He also highlighted the importance of increasing community dental outreach programmes, noting that marginalised areas rarely have access to oral health services. Dr Mugadza and a team of local doctors currently conduct outreach visits to areas such as Nyanga and Mutasa several times a year, treating hundreds of patients for free. “We see about 400 to 500 people per visit, and the need is always overwhelming,” he said.

Dr Mugadza stressed that strengthening public oral health education and improving service accessibility is essential in safeguarding the dental health of the province’s children. “Until we prioritise awareness, prevention, and early treatment, we will continue to see children suffer needlessly from a preventable condition,” he said.