Minister of Health, Osagie Ehanire, yesterday, disclosed that over 700 Nigerians die annually from oral cancer complications in the country.
He said 1,146 cases were diagnosed in the country annually.
Ehanire, who was represented by Head of Dentistry Division, Federal Ministry of Health (FMOH), Gloria Uzo-Igwe, said this at a one-day oral cancer training in Abuja.
The training has the theme: “The use of artificial intelligence in the early detection of oral cancer and oral potentially malignant disorders,” and organised by the Cleft and Facial Deformity Foundation.
It was also gathered that oral cancer is called oral cavity cancer and develops in any part of the mouth.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), its risk factors include tobacco use, heavy alcohol use and human papilloma virus (HPV) infection.
Its symptoms include a sore that doesn’t heal, a lump or a white or red patch on the inside of the mouth.
The minister expressed worries that most people were not aware of the devastating effect of oral cancer in the country.
According to him, oral cancer is very critical because it can easily deface one’s face, you will not be able to talk, you can’t eat, and the mortality rate is very high. It is even higher than the rest of the cancers.
He said FMOH is intensifying its awareness campaign to enlighten Nigerians about the dangers of the cancer and disclosed plans had been concluded to launch a policy on oral health in the country.
“We have a policy that we are going to launch in November on oral health. Our own is preventive, we go to communities and we raise awareness. We are training our community health workers because if you go to communities, there are no oral health workers there.
“Everybody wants to go to the town, there are no dentists in the communities. We don’t have dental experts in our rural communities where oral cancers are more prominent.
“We go to communities to train health workers so that they can recognise early signs of oral cancer and refer the patients to the hospitals where dentists can get treatment.
“We don’t want it to get to the fourth stage or even third stage. As long as they will be able to recognise it and send the patient to the hospital for prompt action,” he said.
He explained that the target of the policy should be able to map, at least, 50 per cent of the population in the rural areas and make sure there were better professionals at the primary health care centres.
“We are aiming at what we call a comprehensive centre, at least there must be a dental clinic comprising a dentist, therapist, and hygienist in a comprehensive centre, at least, in the three geopolitical zones of every state,” he said.
Meanwhile, Bello Alokun, a facial surgeon, said artificial intelligence was an advancement in technology.
He said it involved the use of computers, and information obtained from a patient could be used to predict with more than 90 per cent accuracy, the fact that somebody could develop cancer in another 10 years.
Alokun said it was easier for practitioners to keep a better eye on such people, thereby picking oral cancer in its infancy when it is just developing.
He said early detection meant that cancer could be cured in a particular victim.
Bukola Adeyemi of the University College Ibadan said oral cancer was not too prevalent in the country.
Adeyemi said its impact was devastating. She said if over 1,000 cases of oral cancer were diagnosed every year and over 700 of that number died, “that means over 50 per cent of people that are diagnosed die of oral cancer every year in the country.
“That is enormous because these are people that are very important to some people,” she said.
She called for regular dental checks and encouraged early diagnosis.