FALMOUTH, Trelawny — President of the Jamaica Dental Association (JDA) Dr Shaka Cooke has signalled the JDA’s intention to lobby the Government to provide more posts for its members in what he described as under-resourced State-run dental clinics.

“The Government has a finite amount of jobs and opportunities. However, we think, as an association, that there needs to be more posts for dentists, for dental hygienists in the government sector because a lot of these dental clinics are underserved. We don’t have enough manpower to treat the need that is out there,” said Dr Cooke.

He cited Trelawny, where the association wants to see the number of dental surgeon posts increase from three to five, and Montego Bay’s numbers move from six to eight, as examples of the kind of improvement being sought. This will ensure, he said, “that one dentist does not have to see 40 people one day”.

He was speaking during the Jamaica Dental Association’s 60th anniversary conference at the Royalton Blue Waters in Trelawny on Wednesday.

Delivering the keynote address, Prime Minister Andrew Holness said he has received complaints from dentists, ostensibly in private practice, who are having challenges acquiring staff.

Cooke noted that the entire profession is having a problem attracting new recruits.

“As the prime minister alluded to, we have a very low unemployment rate right now so you have a challenge with many dental offices getting trained staff coming into the profession to work as dental assistants, dental front-desk managers in the office. So the whole profession is having a crisis in terms of attracting persons to come in and work in these offices,” the JDA president stated.

President of the Jamaica Association of Public Dental Surgeons (JAPDEN) Dr Vanessa Kiffin also lamented the insufficient number of dental health professionals. She argued that this is among the factors driving the proliferation of illegal practices in dentistry, “particularly the dangerous trend of fashion braces and veneers [which] is a great threat to the well-being of our nation”.

“There would be no room for this illicit trade if we had enough surgeons in Jamaica and if we had enough surgeons in the private sector. This brings me to the critical shortage of surgeons and availability of oral health services in the public sector as well,” Dr Kiffin said.

“To become a surgeon, prime minister, is very expensive. It’s only since 2010 that we started training dental surgeons in the public [system] in Jamaica. Previously, persons would have to be trained abroad and… it is still not possible for you to become a specialist in Jamaica. There is no subsidiary from the Government to become a dentist. So one of the things JAPDEN and JDA… are concerned with is how we can attract people to the service. That is of critical importance. Now of course once they become surgeons the pay needs to be something that people can pay their student loans with,” she added.

Dr Kiffin also spoke of the “economic burden of oral disease”, noting that in 2019 it accounted for $9.4 billion in productivity losses.

“We need to solve this problem. The demand for oral health is sky-high yet the barriers of prohibitive cost and understaffed clinics prevent accessibility to those in need. I think at this time we have been fighting a little silent war in dentistry. In the public sector we are on the front line, but certainly in the private sector we know that there are a lot of services that are not offered in public, a lot of critical services that people need. And that is where private sector steps in, to ensure that these services are still available to, unfortunately, those who can afford it,” she said.

She cautioned that Vision 2030, to make Jamaica a place to live, work, raise families and do business, will not be achievable without good oral health.