Azerbaijani Society of Periodontology I Gum Health Day Azerbaijan 2021

Azerbaijani Society of Periodontology has actively celebrated 12 May Gum Health Day, an international awareness day, jointly organized by the European Federation of Periodontology and its affiliated members. Activities took place under the slogan “Gum Diseases are Preventable”. The aim of this day, which has been actively celebrated in Azerbaijan for 6 years, was to raise public awareness about the importance of gum health around teeth and implants, to emphasize the role of early diagnosis and treatment of gum disease, and highlight its relevant relationship with pregnancy, diabetes and cardiovascular diseases in Azerbaijani population, especially during the new coronavirus (COVID-19) disease pandemic. The European Federation of Periodontology and its affiliated societies have organized a wide variety of social awareness events online because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Gingivitis, periodontitis, and peri-implantitis are chronic, inflammatory gum diseases that affect hundreds of millions of adults worldwide. Unfortunately, gum diseases are still poorly acknowledged by the public, even though scientific evidence shows that they may pose a threat to general health as they are associated with diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular disease, chronic kidney disease, rheumatoid arthritis, Alzheimer’s disease, certain forms of cancer, pregnancy complications, erectile dysfunction and even severe Covid-19 outcomes.

Dr. Cavid Ahmedbeyli, President of Azerbaijani Society of Periodontology, has delivered “Periodontal health: Diagnosis and treatment of periodontal diseases” online webinar to the dentists involved in the state continuing dental education program at the Azerbaijani State Advanced Training Institute for Doctors Department of Stomatology and Maxillofacial Surgery. Dr. Hanife Musayeva, Gum Health Day 2021 Azerbaijani coordinator, has actively promoted and informed the general dentists, medical professionals, specialists, public and Society members about the importance of Gum Health Day via different awareness-raising events: a set of materials in national language that has produced by European Federation of Periodontology as four short animated videos that show how – among other factors – bad breath, sensitive or loose teeth, and smoking can either trigger or be a sign of suffering a gum disease; webinars, social media campaigns and live sessions on Instagram. A press release dedicated to Gum Health Day and its activities in Azerbaijan and worldwide were disseminated via main state news agency, Azerbaijani Ministry of Health and university websites.