Dr.(Mrs.)Dumebi Owa, a Dental Surgeon and trained health counsellor, is a multiple Masters Degree holder in Public Health, Environmental Management and Public Administration. After her first degree at the University of Ibadan, she had gone to the UK where she got married and had her children.

While there, she worked as a Market Researcher, and since her return to Nigeria with her family, she has pitched her tent with the Ministry of Defence. In this interview, Dr.Dumebi who is also the current President of the Medical Women’s Association, Nigeria-MWAN, Lagos Chapter, laments poor dental health awareness in Nigeria and speaks on MWAN’s activities, among sundry issues.

From your experience, how much awareness do you think Nigerians have about dental health?

Health wise, Nigerians are poorly informed, but when it comes to dental healthcare, it is worse. Dental health awareness in Nigeria is very low, and that’s why I like talking to people about it at every given opportunity. How many of us know that we’re supposed to brush our teeth after breakfast and not before breakfast?

Yes, you ought to have brushed before going to bed at night because the essence of brushing is to remove the food particles in your mouth! When you eat and get full, you rush to the toilet to pass out wastes, and that’s also what happens in your mouth! We all have millions of micro-organisms in our mouth, so, when we eat and leave food particles there, it is like we’ve called them to party!

They will eat, get full, and then pass out wastes in the form of acid, which then starts decaying the tooth and leaving you with mouth odours and others. Actually, I’ve noticed an increase in incidences of caries and other tooth ailments because our diet has changed; with a lot of junk food all-over town.

We’re what we eat, so, this is affecting our teeth. The mouth happens to be the mirror of the body, and that’s why you could even detect certain diseases by examining the mouth. There’s a lot of hardwork to be done on health issues in this part of the world. Government cannot do it all; people should learn to support in their little ways. If foreigners could contribute their hard-earned money to send down to us as aid in Nigeria, why can’t the rich among us also help the less privileged?

Source:
www.vanguardngr.com/2012/11/brush-after-breakfast-not-before/

??

Ok .. that is what i do anyway!

Hahaha,me dey do am since,i eat before brushing

How true is she?

Nice. . .i'll start brushing after every meal

Do not believe everything u see on the internet because it has a quote attached to it.
-socretes.

I brush b4 i eat joor

Food for tot

Why not brush before and after, has toothpaste become golddust? And where possible, after each meal !!!

Yes,that's what i do.. Brush after meal,and brush to bed.. When you even wake-up in the morning,your breath will still be fresh.. But make sure you dont brush after drinking garr! Cos the toothpaste will react with what we call garrisuphilisun ijebuguma found in garr! and render the active ingredient useless.. So just rinse ya mouth with water after smoking garr!..
Remember,one cup of garr! A day keeps evil spirit/badluck away...

Toothpaste companies are misleading us.
Media adverts say make we brush as we wakeup( infact before you. Pray sef)
Then brush 3 times everyday.
*try it in our house, you will replace another toothpaste for us*

Since when? The general knowledge is sand-paper scrub your teeth with charcoal first thing in the morning and last thing before bed. So where did this come from?

I can't even swallow anything in the morning till I brush my teeth.

Taking breakfast with dirty mouth.

I'm so addicted to this, I do feel lazy brushing my teeth before taking my breakfast, so I rather mouth wash with water only, then brush my teeth proper after eating my breakfast.

Yes, that is the right thing to do. But that is as long as one brushes ones teeth after dinner the previous night.

catch_cold: Do not believe everything u see on the internet because it has a quote attached to it.
-socretes.

Socrates? DID HE WITNESS THE INTERNET?

Alexanda07: D

[b]From your experience, how much awareness do you think Nigerians have about dental health?

Health wise, Nigerians are poorly informed, but when it comes to dental healthcare, it is worse. Dental health awareness in Nigeria is very low, and that’s why I like talking to people about it at every given opportunity. How many of us know that we’re supposed to brush our teeth after breakfast and not before breakfast?

Yes, you ought to have brushed before going to bed at night/

So many pple are of d opinion dat u eat brkfast b4 brushing, leaving out d part of brushing b4 u sleep. Thereby eatin al d james and john dat hav stayed overnit in their mouth. . the thruth is if u brush b4 sleeping, u stil got a fresh breath wen u wake in d mony.

[b][/b]all this kids here shouting 1st and 2nd to comment pls u guys should grow up.this is nairaland is turning to small pikin site smh

What about people going to work around 4:00am,are they gonna eat breakfast too before brushing their tooths?

Brushing after eating is the correct thing, cos the essense of tooth brushing basically, is to remove food particles which plaque the teeth after meals and encourage the growth of bacteria thereby causing dental carries (tooth decay). If you must brush before eating, then you must also brush immediately after eating. Otherwise the best practice is to rinse your mouth with clean water after waking up in the morning, believing that you have done the right thing of brushing after supper too. Brushing before eating is comparable to cleaning one's a*s*s before using the toilet! You can quote me on that

cupid4ig: [b][/b]all this kids here shouting 1st and 2nd to comment pls u guys should grow up.this is nairaland is turning to small pikin site smh

don't mind them jare.They are mental handicap

Hmm. I brush as soon as i wake up that's before eating. so WTF is this woman saying.

.

I've been following this ever since I lost a tooth some years back.

na to dey use charcoal dey brush after meal!

Smart jeezy: What about people going to work around 4:00am,are they gonna eat breakfast too before brushing their tooth?

Na one tooth you get?

Asaba man: third to comment....wil try harder next tym...

Asaba man, u no dey tire? ....lol. Why not open your own thread & comment in whatever position u like?