Las Pinas residents encouraged to avail of free dental services in barangays

From pia.gov.ph:

LAS PIÑAS, March 10 (PIA) — The city government of Las Piñas is inviting residents to avail of the free dental care services. 

Las Piñas Mayor Vergel ‘Nene’ Aguilar urged residents saying that the initiative aims to provide residents easy access to dental care. 

“We want to give service to as many people as we can. Our objective is to reach out to those who can’t afford to pay,” Aguilar said.

Aguilar stressed that the health care program is one of the priority programs of the city government. He added that the initiative is only a minor step to cater to the needs of the number of people affected considering the high percentage of Filipinos who suffer dental illnesses.

An additional 26 dental chairs were recently distributed to various barangay health centers in the city. 

Meanwhile, the local chief executive cited that oral infections can be dangerous, especially in young children. Among the common symptoms of poor dental health to young children are recurring fever and dehydration, which are actually preventable dental conditions. 

Studies show that many Filipinos, especially children suffer from dental illnesses such as gingivitis.

“It is not easy to educate people about dental health programs. Few people visit their dentists regularly citing that most of those emergency visits involve trouble such as toothaches that could have been avoided with regular checkups but went untreated,” Aguilar added.

He also underscored that preventive dental care such as routine teeth cleaning cost a lot adding that emergency room treatment that may include painkillers for aching cavities and antibiotics resulting from infections is much higher. (LAS PIÑAS/RJB/JEG-PIA-NCR)