“Less use of teeth in chewing food or fruits slackens the gums. Coupled with various other factors, problems of gums today account for over 70 per cent of all dental problems in India,” said a dentist on the concluding day of the three-day long 48th Punjab State and North India Dental Conference. As many as 2,000 delegates from various parts of the region, including students from over 20 colleges, participated in the conference.

While speaking on the correction of skeletal discrepancies, Dr Rajan Jairath said: “There was a time when people would chew fruits such as sugarcane, but now they prefer sugarcane juice. Gums and teeth like any other part of the body need to do some work and if you do not use them properly, they are going to show symptoms of faster decay.”

He added that low level of literacy in the country explains why Indians face more dental problems as compared to people from Europe or the US.

Various other topics, including Nano-dentistry by Dr Gorav Singla, Naturopathy for dental treatment emergencies by Dr Surinder Singh and Regenerative endodontics using stem cell therapy by Dr Saurbha Arora, were taken up during the conference.