Mercury-Free Dentistry and Mercury-Free Health Care Week of Action 2018 campaign opened in Bharatpur, Chitwan on Saturday.

The campaign encourages people to go for mercury free dentistry. 

The week-long programme, to coincide with the World Oral Health Day 2018 with the slogan, “Say Ahh, Think Mouth Think Health” endeavours to encourage people to make the connection between their oral health, their general health and well-being. 

Dental amalgam is widely uses restorative materials which contain approximately 50 per cent of toxic mercury, highly harmful to public health. 

The study done by Center for Public Health and Environmental Development (CEPHED) in 2013 revealed that all the participants, who were health workers (Dental Doctors and Nurses), were found to have 0.097-0.547 ppm of mercury in their bodies. 

Based on this alarming finding, the Ministry of Health had banned import, purchase and use of all mercury based equipment since July 2013 in a bid to keep 

public away from the potential exposure of mercury through dentistry. 

The week-long programmes include awareness events to be jointly organised by the District Public Health Office (DPHO) Chitwan, Bharatpur Metropolitan City (BMC), Private Hospital Coordination Committee (PHCC), Chitwan Medical College (CMC), Saptagandaki College, Balkumari College, and School of Health Science and Nursing Colleges. 

Speaking  at the event, organised to inform about the upcoming programmes, CEPHED executive Director Ram Charitra Sah urged concerned agencies to completely stop using of mercury based equipment’s and dental amalgam fillings. 

“Besides government agencies strictly banning the use of mercury in dentistry, 

the dental colleges and universities should move towards improving their dental curricula by replacing more and more mercury based theoretical and practical parts with safe alternative dental filling materials and practices,” said Sah.