Surveys from various Indian cities have found that nearly 65% of the adult population has at least one tooth with apical periodontitis (AP), a condition that ultimately leads to tooth extraction. World Endodontic Day, celebrated on October 16, focuses on the message about how people should take care of their natural teeth after extraction.

The campaign aims to improve awareness about the need to preserve natural teeth from root canal infection and extractions. The campaign also aims to draw attention to the need for government and health care planners to make oral health an integral priority of the overall national healthcare mission.

People are aware of dental caries, or tooth decay, as a common disease of the oral cavity. However, only a few realise that dental caries in a tooth slowly progresses within a year and goes deeper into the tooth, causing dental nerve pain and bone infection around the roots of the tooth, causing apical periodontitis (AP), said Gopi Krishna, secretary general for the International Federation of Endodontic Associations (IFEA).

“Half the adult population worldwide has at least one diseased tooth with AP,” he said, citing a finding from a global study covering more than 40 countries, including India. The study was published last year in the International Endodontic Journal. “Data from surveys conducted in various Indian cities found that close to two-thirds (65%) of the adult population of India has at least one tooth with apical periodontitis,” he added.

This calls for a nation-wide awareness campaign, and effort is needed to reduce the disease that would affect every alternate Indian in their lifetime in the coming decades, posing a huge burden on public and government health care expenditure.