The Ghana Dental Association (GDA) has pledged a relentless nationwide crackdown on unlicensed dental practitioners operating illegally across the country.
The resolve was made during the Association’s 34th Annual General Congress held in Koforidua, Eastern Region, under the theme “Dental Quackery in Ghana: The Silent Epidemic, Awareness, Action and Accountability.”
Addressing participants, the President of the Ghana Dental Association, Dr. (Dent) Cecilia Kakrabah-Quarshie, described dental quackery as a dangerous public health epidemic silently claiming the health and lives of unsuspecting Ghanaians.
According to her, the growing involvement of licensed dental professionals, technicians, and auxiliary staff in illegal practices threatens the integrity of the dental profession and erodes public trust in qualified practitioners.
“The conversation is no longer just about unqualified individuals posing as dentists, it also includes us dentists, dental technicians, and auxiliary staff who act as dentists, often supported by some dental laboratories who knowingly enable this illegal practise. This is not just a crisis for dentists, it’s a crisis for the entire oral health ecosystem, and we all have a role to play confronting it. Without a doubt, there are serious consequences of this silent epidemic”.She stated.
Dr. Kakrabah-Quarshie partly blamed the menace on severe shortage of dental professionals in the country.
She explained that,Ghana currently has one dentist for every 58,400 citizens, a ratio far below acceptable standards and one that has left rural communities vulnerable to unregulated dental services.
She said the situation has been worsened by centralization of posting of the few dentists in the two major cities of Ghana -Accra and Kumasi.
“the centralisation, while often practical, has unintentionally left rural and hairy urban populations exposed, and this void, quackery, has marched unchecked. In Ghana, the ratio of citizens per dentist is a staggering one is to 58,400 highlighting the critical need for increased access and early intervention” She explained.
The Ghana Dental Association President further called for intensified public education on the dangers of seeking treatment from unqualified persons, emphasizing the need for continuous advocacy in schools, clinics, media platforms, and online spaces.
“the pain, the infections, the long-term damage to teeth and gums, the financial exploitation, and paramount to this, the erosion of public trust in the dental profession, undermining our credibility as qualified professionals and the importance of seeking proper dental care. In this year’s AGM, our focus as an association is rightly guided in addressing dental quackery by increasing awareness in our individual and collective engagement with the public. We must intensify public education in clinics, in schools, in the media, and online” said Dr. Kakrabah-Quarshie.
She appealed to government, corporate organizations, and development partners to support rural outreach programs, mobile dental units, public awareness campaigns, and the decentralization of dental infrastructure.
A representative of the Director-General of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), Professor Samuel Kaba Akoriyea, admitted the issue is compounded by the shortage of trained dentists and weak enforcement regimes.
He revealed that about 66 percent of Ghanaians have never visited a dentist, a gap exploited by quack practitioners.
Prof. Akoriyea assured that the GHS will support policy implementation to increase access to quality dental care at the district level and above, while also working to reduce the cost of dental services, which is often a deterrent for many Ghanaians.
He said the Ghana Health Service will continue to build data systems, expand specialist training, and encourage young dental professionals to accept rural postings.
” encourage our young dental practitioners to accept postings to district level facilities.Many times we always say that we don’t have anything there but it is realised that once a qualified practitioner is sent to a facility analyses follow and so we want you to accept those things so that you recommend what analysis the service has to provide to make the practise better and safe”.
The Health Service currently boasts only 29 dental specialists nationwide, a figure authorities say must improve, especially with the recent commissioning of a new Cleft Centre at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital to help build local capacity.
In a speech read on her behalf, the Eastern Regional Minister, Hon. Rita Akosua Agyei Awatey, said the inadequate dentist in the region has left many rural communities underserved.
He urged stakeholders to bridge this gab.
Source: Ghana/Starrfm.com.gh/Obed Kojo Ansah
