The President, Nigeria Dental Association, Dr Olabode Ijarogbe, has warned Nigerians against the consumption of sugar-based foods as doing so can cause tooth decay and other diseases.

Ijarogbe, who made the call in an interview with the News Agency Nigeria (NAN) ahead of the 2016 World Oral Health Day, identified chocolates, sweets, and chewing gum as some of the sugar-based foods.

“Chocolate, sweets, chewing gum – a lot of these sugar-based products are not too good for our mouth; the sugar contained in them especially the refined sugar.

“There are bacteria everywhere in our body in our mouth, in our skin, and even in our digestive system, they are there for specific reasons, some of them are beneficial and some of them are not.

“But if there is a tilt in which the non beneficial one has power to suppress the beneficial ones, they can result in disease conditions and we believe that can be prevented by a simple observation of some very basic steps, just brush morning and night seeing your dentist
twice in a year, once every 6months.

“Such that even before some of those problems becomes issues, they would have been nipped in the bud.

“And even if there is any other major condition starting from your general body they could be picked in the mouth and you are referred to see the appropriate doctor and then we were able to help you maintain good oral health and general health.’’

The World Oral Health Day, celebrated every March 20, is aimed at promoting worldwide awareness of the issues around oral health and the importance of oral hygiene among the young and old