Oral Health Day: Dental Asso. holds outreach for civil servants ~ Truth Reporters

 

By Aruoriwo Ivovi

The Head of Service of Delta State, Mr. Reginald Bayoko has reiterated the State Government's commitment towards improving the overall health and living conditions of its workforce.

Mr. Bayoko stated this on Tuesday in Asaba, the Delta State Capital during the flag off of free oral health screening and treatment for civil servants by the Delta State Chapter of the Nigerian Dental Association (NDA in commemoration of the 2022 World Oral Health Day.

The Head of Service encouraged civil servants to pay special attention to their overall health, without diminishing or neglecting any parts of their bodies.

“Every part of the body is important and the reason why I am saying this is because sometimes we tend to focus on some areas while neglecting others such as our oral health." Bayoko said.

Continuing, the Delta HOS posited that sometimes people tend to only check their hearts, blood pressure, eyes and other parts of the bodies but always forget to check the mouth which he said was also equally important.

He commended the Nigeria Dental Association for the free screening and treatment saying that the entire body was interconnected and such enlightenment by the Dental Association would help in promoting a healthy oral health care of civil servants.

Bayoko, while stressing the huge importance of oral health, promised to build on the existing partnership with the dental professionals to continue to gain more understanding of oral health.

Meanwhile, the Delta State Chairperson  of the Dental Association, Dr. (Mrs.) Yvonne Mabiaku, in her opening remarks stressed the need for regular and routine oral health checks at least twice a year, saying that there was relationship between oral health and general health.

Dr. Mabiaku said that the outreach was particularly targeted at civil servants to influence government functionaries and lawmakers on the importance of good oral health policies and laws for the larger public.

One of the beneficiaries of the free screening, and Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Civil Service Matters, Sir Emmanuel Okafor, commended the dental association for the exercise, even as he enjoined Deltans to visit the dentists regularly.