Materia Medica Malaysiana

Malaysian adults have seven times more tooth decay

PETALING JAYA: Malaysian adults have seven times more tooth decay than adolescents, Health Ministry surveys show.
And according to dentists, this is because adults do not go for regular check-ups, unlike the younger generation.
The ministry's surveys, conducted every decade to monitor the oral health trend, show that a 12-year-old has an average of 1.6 teeth affected by dental caries (tooth decay) compared with an average of 11.3 teeth for adults.
Oral Health Division director Datuk Dr Wan Mohamad Nasir Wan Othman said the surveys showed a tremendous reduction in dental caries during the past decade but this was mainly among the younger generation.
He said surveys showed that people now had better dental health.
In the first survey of schoolchildren in 1971, 12-year-olds were found to have dental caries in an average of 3.8 teeth while in the 1997 survey it was an average of 1.6 teeth,” he said.
He was speaking at the launch of the Colgate-Malaysian Dental Association (MDA) Oral Health Month programme themed Healthy Smiles for Life at One Utama Shopping Complex here yesterday.
The complex is one of three venues for the programme's one-stop dental and educational clinics, which will go on until tomorrow.
The clinics then move to Plaza Angsana in Tampoi (April 8-10) and Sunshine Square in Penang (April 22-24).
For more details visit www.mda.org.my or call 1-800-883-918.