Oral health program- Okhaldhunga

Dental caries is one of the most prevalent childhood diseases in Nepal, especially in the young children. Most of the dental caries are not treated because of the lack of knowledge or unavailability of the services which leads to pain and eventually leads to tooth loss. This has bad impact on the quality of life of school children and further when they become adults. A prevalence of 57.5% of 5-6-year-olds and 25.6% of children of 12-13-year-old suffer from dental caries. The report of pain and discomfort due to toothache ranges from 18% in 5-6-year-olds to 64% in Older Adults. Amongst adolescent schoolchildren, the most frequent reported impact of pain and discomfort is the inability to eat, followed by inability to speak. 55% of 50+ year adults reported having trouble eating hard foods. This has hence got an indirect effect on the overall nutrition intake of the population resulting into other health problems.