Plea for the Promotion of the Paediatric Dentistry in Developing Countries

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In developing countries, young people constitute an important slice of the population. They are, as reported by epidemiological studies, strongly exposed to oral affections, essentially tooth decay and periodontal troubles. Among the major predisposing factors to these diseases, papers cited the lack of motivation, the bad oral hygiene and the excessive consumption of carbohydrate, the modest socioeconomic background and the difficult access to the oral care.

Practitioners should take into account these factors to conduct an effective and successful dental management. In this context, Paediatric dentistry finds all its importance especially in developing countries. She takes care about young patients in full physical and neuro-psychological development. These young patients constitute a favoured target to preventive messages for an adequate oral hygiene and a healthy and balanced diet.

The general objective of this discipline is to establish on preventive and curative plans for children since the foetal stage through advice to the pregnancy woman, via the early childhood and the implementation of the temporary dentition with its progressive replacement by the permanent dentition (15 years). This phenomenon is followed by a harmonious growth of jaws and the maturation of the oral functions.

This long course requires the close collaboration of several partners among whom of course the child and his parents or relatives. The paediatric dentist constitutes an important link of this long chain. He is going to insure the follow-up of the teething, the early screening and the adequate curative and preventive dental care. He cannot isolate himself from other colleagues such as the gynaecologist the midwives, the neonatal physician, the paediatricians, the otolaryngologist, the nurses, the speech therapists, the psychologists and all other disciplines according to diseases that child can present during his evolution and his development.

The paediatric dentist gives all its importance for the temporary dentition that has functional, aesthetic and psychological role. It is also going to keep space for the eruption of permanent dentition. It is also going to help child to adopt physiological oral functions. Therefore, the primary dentition prepares the future oral health of the adult. Unfortunately, the general practitioners who often neglect the temporary teeth can easily extract them.