COMMUNITY SUPPORT PROGRAM (CSP)
KARACHI – A class of first grade school children from Haque Academy visited Bahria Dental College under the supervision of Dr. Kulsoom Fatima Rizvi (Head of Department of Community and Preventive Dentistry) for their first ever school field trip. The program included thirty students of first grade with their respective teachers visited BUMDC. It was a collaborative venture of two departments of BUMDC i.e. Department of Community and Preventive Dentistry and Department of Periodontology.
The objective of the Community Support Program (CSP) was firstly to teach students the importance of maintaining good oral hygiene by regular brushing with a fluoridated toothpaste and to adopt healthy food practices. Secondly, this CSP event was organized to enable these young school going students to visit the Periodontology OPD and to get familiar with dentists and dental settings. The program was facilitated by Dr. Raima, Dr. Nazish and Dr. Sidra with an interactive session including power point presentation, videos and demonstration of tooth brushing on denture models. The students were briefed about how the dental cavities occurs in a tooth and what measures can we take to avoid dental caries. The students’ and teachers’ queries were answered by respective facilitators at the end of session. They then visited the Department of Periodontology, and were taught about the basic dental instruments by Dr. Natasha Zaidi and Dr. Umair Aslam.
All children were examined for dental caries on the dental chair and were advised for dental treatment as per their oral condition. The students were very happy and cooperative, and willingly allowed dentists to carry out oral examinations and check their teeth. They were given badges and Colgate oral hygiene kits as a token of appreciation to maintain their oral hygiene measures and to visit their dentist twice a year. A group photo of students, teachers and facilitator was clicked with Bahria Dental College principal (Dr. Wahab Kadri) and Vice principal (Dr. Kulsoom Fatima Rizvi) as a fond memory of their first school field trip.
The teachers and students were very pleased and happy to attend the interactive session and visit the clinical OPD setting. The overall trip was informative for students and teachers and furthermore, helped in overcoming dental fear and anxiety among school going children and encouraged them to be open to comfortably visiting their dentist. Bahria Dental College plans to welcome more school field trips in the near future with the agenda to promote oral health education among school-going children.
