In Ile-Ife, Osun State, a new museum on dental health and history has been established purposely to document and preserve the relics of various age and time used for oral dentistry. Edozie Udeze who witnessed the commissioning ceremony in Ife writes on the essence of this and why more of such projects and ideas should be encouraged.
The idea of having a private museum is not common in Nigeria. It is even more amazing to think of it when the museum owned and run by the Federal and State Governments in Nigeria are being neglected. In Ife, the cradle of Yoruba heritage, more of such ventures are daily being undertaken by different individuals. The idea of this sort of situation is to help register the essence of museums in the minds of the public and to ensure that some important aspects of the legacies of the people are not put in jeopardy or left to rot away.
In Ile-Ife, Osun State, Eyitope Ogunbodede, a Professor of Dentistry at the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), has decided to establish a Dental Museum. Declared open last weekend in Ife, the whole concept was to use historical approach to preserve the relics of dental materials that have been of immense use to the people.
In other words, the Dema Foundation Dental Museum which took Ogunbodede many years to put together has in its storage, the history of Dentistry in Nigeria. It has all the requirements used in treating dental and other related oral health problems. The assemblage of these archival materials, in the reckoning of Ogunbodede, was “to mobilize society and then strengthen its capacity to play an active and significant role in expanding the frontiers of dental and general health. It is to inform and help the society.”
A non-governmental and non-profit making venture, the museum boosts of various profound historical materials which have been collected and preserved from around 1926 when Nigeria had its first dental doctor in the person of Dr. Sydney Obafemi Philips. As the first dental museum in Africa, the rich contents of the collections include the history of modern dentistry in Nigeria from 1903 to the present. Inside some of the rooms, there are relics of the first dental chairs used in Nigeria but were manufactured in the United States of America in 1907. The very first chair was used by one certain Dr. Ewart Gladstone Maclean who was a Baptist Missionary. He was noted to be the first to practice the treatment of tooth problems in the country.
The objects and relics are so well identified, dated and arranged that once you step into the foyers of the museum, you are struck by the aura of the rooms and the heavy instruments of old used to extract people’s dentition and treat other problems that pertained to the mouth. “We did this to ensure that nothing is left out,” Ogunbodede explained. This was why in addition to the halls housing these implements, he wrote a book entitled History of Dentistry in Nigeria. “This book is meant to complement the educational essence and mission of this museum. The proceeds will also be used to help fund the museum,” Ogunbodede said.
“Let me assure you,” the professor asserted before the large gathering of people from all walks of life, “that adequate thoughts have been made on how to preserve and run this centre so that it does not fizzle out.”
In addition, and indeed in order to really combine tradition and modernity to give the place a complete historic outlook, the museum houses life-sized heads bearing the different tribal marks in Nigeria. With over 30 of such important relics, the importance of the marks was to show some of the complications inherent in it and how this distorts the human face. In the process of giving these marks, parts of the dentition of a person may be disorganized. Often, this leads to bumps, dental diseases and oral and other hygienic disorders.
In order to make this aspect of the show explicit, the National Troupe of Nigeria, led by its director, Akinsola Adejuwon, was on hand to demonstrate the exigencies of oral problems and the connection with tribal marks. The play, written by Arnold Udoka and presented to the gathering, was titled Dokita Eji and it centred entirely on some of the myths people usually attach to most oral and dental problems and diseases. And in simplifying the show on stage, it became clearer that dance-drama can always be a huge and potent means to bring issues of life closer to the people.
Once you have a tooth-ache or decay, all you have to do is to look for a dental doctor to cater to your problems. The play was used to disabuse people’s minds towards some certain dental issues and challenges which they often link with witchcraft. There are different types of facial marks identified in the museum and how they have defaced people’s faces over time.
The principal types among the Yoruba are Pele, Abaja, Gombo, Baramu, Keke, Ture, Mande and Jamgbadi. Although it is not only the Yoruba tribe that gives facial marks, the import of the show was to let people know that it is not all facial marks that heal well or quickly. Therefore, some of the complications come in forms of infections, tetanus, keloids and hypertrophic scars that often lead to death. But the essence of the museum is to document issues and to enlighten the public on the dangers in it and how it distorts dentition and more.
Located on Ilesa road, Ile-Ife, Dema Foundation Dental Museum is an imposing one-storey building which has all the trappings of a modern museum. It was for this reason that the Director-General of the National Commission for Museums and Monuments, Mallam Yusuf Usman described it as a centre put in place to tell the story of events and activities of things in a society. “And for this, it is proper to encourage more people to follow the example of Professor Ogunbodede in order that we have more of such establishments to document our history.”
In his own opening remarks, Emeritus Professor of Law, David Ijalaye commended the idea and quickly added that “this is part of the mission of promoting oral, dental and general health with particular focus on the history, education, research and information aspects of this huge project.” This remark indeed set the ball rolling, for in his own contribution, Professor Jonathan Lawoyin of The Oral Pathology of the University of Ibadan described the book as a work of long years of painstaking research in which the author criss crossed the globe to secure detailed and valuable information. This is what this erudite scholar has given to the society in addition to this beautiful edifice and the rich contents of the museum.”
The occasion was witnessed by many scholars from different parts of the nation who indeed saw the need to have more museums in the medical realm. For Adejuwon, the combination of dance drama and dental issues was to bring the whole concept closer to the people. And since Ife is a university town, its location has many academic and social values to the people. In fact, the idea is to encourage more Nigerians who have the means to go into such wonderful venture.
