Ben Ezechime, Enugu
Ahead of the Ramadan, an Enugu based foundation, OakAid Foundation, on Saturday provided free dental care for over 300 Muslims in Enugu to improve their oral health.
Some of the healthcare provided for them include free dental consultation, oral health education, routine dental cleaning and free oral care kits.
Speaking during the event held at Enugu Central Mosque, Uwani, and titled “Pre Ramadan Dental Care Outreach,” the founder of the foundation, Gloria Arinze, said the gesture was her own little way of giving back to the society.
She said the programme was powered by her clinic, OakAid Dental Clinic, Enugu in collaboration with the Foundation and in partnership with the Colgate Toothpaste Company.
Arinze, who is a licensed Dental Therapist, added that the dental outreach was to check their teeth and help them improve in their general oral health care.
According to her, every year on March 20, people all over the world celebrate “World Oral Health Day.”
She said that this year, the foundation thought of doing something different by visiting the Muslim community in Enugu.
“So we are here to take care of their teeth and improve in their general oral health. We are expecting more than 300 people to benefit from the programme free of charge.
“We chose today instead of March 20 because their leaders suggested it as their Ramadan fast will start on March 11, and it will not be convenient for them.
“It is a way of giving back to the society aside the normal work that I do at the clinic setting and I love seeing people smile, happy and free from any form of dental pain,” she said.
Arinze explained that when she approached the Muslim leaders in Enugu to inform them about the programme that they were happy and receptive.
She equally used the occasion to appeal to Nigerians to always visit dental hospitals when they are faced with dental issues as well as encouraging them to accept dental treatments.
“The idea of the awareness outreach is to let Nigerians know that dental care is for everyone both the children and adults as anyone can have mouth odour, tooth decay, and other dental complications.
“Dental care is not a death sentence; see a dentist if something you don’t know is going on around your teeth to get checked than taking concoction in the name of treating teeth problems.
“Dental care is affordable and it is not only tooth removal we do in the clinic which is the major fear of many Nigerians,” Arinze clarified.
A representative of Colgate company, Mr Kingsley Okeke, added that they partnered the foundation to deal with dental care issues, stressing that they would give beneficiaries Colgate tooth paste free of charge to take care of their teeth.
Reacting, the Secretary-General of Enugu Muslim Community, Alhaji Musa Ani, expressed gratitude to the foundation for finding them worthy to examine their teeth free of charge.
“We are happy seeing them because some of us have teeth problem but don’t know where to go. So seeing them coming to give us dental care services is a welcome development and our members have been mobilised for it,” he said.
A beneficiary, Adamu Garba, while commending the group, said, “they found out I have two holes in my teeth and I was referred to OakAid Dental Clinic for further treatment.”
