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The clinic also organizes outreach programs offering preventive care and basic treatments, including tooth restoration, fillings, and extractions. Akinbami said social media has become a powerful tool for raising awareness about oral health.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Affordability remains a concern, he added, but Toothmine offers flexible payment plans to increase access. \u201cAffordability is dicey, but we try to get as many people as possible covered,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Several patients at the event shared their experiences. \u201cI had to wait months to see a dentist in my area,\u201d said Lagos resident Chinyere Okafor. \u201cToothmine\u2019s outreach saved me from losing a tooth.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Another patient, Musa Ibrahim, said he traveled from Ogun State for treatment. \u201cThere are no dental clinics in my town. I had to take time off work and spend extra money just to get care,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Nigerian Dental Association (NDA) echoed Akinbami\u2019s concerns, noting that the country has fewer than 5,000 registered dentists serving a population of over 200 million. \u201cWe need urgent policy intervention to expand dental schools and incentivize young professionals,\u201d said NDA President Dr. Grace Olatunde.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Officials from the Lagos State Ministry of Health acknowledged the shortage and said efforts are underway to improve dental infrastructure. \u201cWe are working with private clinics to expand access and promote oral health awareness,\u201d said Dr. Tunde Alabi, Director of Public Health.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Civil society groups also weighed in. The Health Equity Alliance called the dentist shortage \u201ca silent crisis\u201d and urged the federal government to include oral health in national health insurance schemes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The new Lekki office is equipped to serve residents on Lagos Island, and staff are trained to prioritize patient satisfaction. \u201cWe want to change the narrative about dentistry,\u201d Akinbami said. \u201cWe make the environment friendly and comfortable for our patients.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The commissioning ceremony was attended by Dr. Hilda Akinbami, Director of the organization; Akinnubi Olatomiwa, Business Development Manager; Babajide Williams, Administrative Officer; and partner Ikenna Chima.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
LAGOS, Nigeria (FN) \u2014 A shortage of qualified dentists is limiting access to quality oral healthcare across Nigeria, according to Dr. Abraham Akinbami, Lead Doctor and Chief Executive Officer of Toothmine Dental Clinic. Speaking at the commissioning of a new Toothmine branch in Lekki, Lagos, Akinbami called for increased investment in dental education to attract […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":22132,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4,20,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22131","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-health-fitness","category-naija-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.funminews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Oral-care.jpeg?fit=857%2C569&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22131","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22131"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22131\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22134,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22131\/revisions\/22134"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22132"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22131"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22131"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22131"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}