Dental health
Amrit Singh, Nausori
Fiji has quite a large number of dental health problems among ages 15 to 35 years old. Some people have two or three dentures at age 35 or at age 30.
It is quiet amazing to see that the price of dental health care products is too much.
One example is 500ml of Colgate Total mouthwash or 500ml or Plax mouth wash rinse. It costs around $10 to $13 and will last you only one week or less. In overseas, the same item is sold for only $2. Even good branded floss 25 metre unit costs $6 to $7 in Fiji and lasts a month or less. That’s if only one person uses it daily. If the whole family is using it, both the rinse and floss will end in one-week time.
In near future, I hope to see a price decline in oral health products. Colgate Total is a top brand. I use it and it keeps your gums healthy, if you brush twice daily that is. Fiji is over pricing dental care products. Why can’t Colgate Palmolive have a factory here in Fiji? This will greatly reduce the price of Colgate branded products.
Colgate Total is effective and prevents sensitivity and tooth shock when drinking very cold or hot drinks. Gum bleeding stops and you will less likely lose a tooth at age 35. Since I started using Colgate Total I have never looked back, but good dental health shouldn’t be expensive. Private doctors charge $35 for one tooth extraction and sometimes $50.
I hope FCCC (Fijian Competition and Consumer Commission) can manage dental price list and on some of the products sold here in Fiji that are too expensive. That is why people are forced to use cheap toothpaste and 90 per cent Fijians never have done flossing in their life.
Trust me on this and 90 per cent do not know how to floss and brush. It has always been Tek branded hard toothbrush for 90 per cent Fijians. They know the brush is cheap and their teeth is concrete to scrub that dirt away.
That is how 90 per cent of Fijians lose their teeth because they damage their gums and enamel.
Lifestyle is changing, charcoal and baking soda doesn’t work now. Please reduce the price of dental health products.
Oral health is vital to socialise and to interact with everyone. Even top dentists will agree on this and Dental Health Association of Fiji needs to look into the pricing of oral health products. If lamb neck is $14kg, why is mouthwash which is only 500ml around $13? Lamb causes heart failures and blockages but mouthwash cleans our teeth and prevents heart diseases in kids.
So why so expensive? It is just a rinse yaar!