By Pashmeena Mahmood KARACHI - Good oral health is an important component of overall health and implies that teeth, gums, and oral mucosal tissues are in their normal form & function and free of disease. It is said that;Your mouth is the gateway to your body and by not taking proper care of the oral cavity one might get serious problems. If we talk about children, they are not much particular about the maintenance of Oral hygiene. Proper guidance and awareness programs are regularly carried out to facilitate and make the parents aware, as well as children, to achieve good oral hygiene. Researchers are being done on various community problems related to dentistry on various scales in Pakistan, but in a third world country like ours, researches are important for a particular aspect, that is; Special Children, as they are an important part of our community and as a group these children with disabilities are more likely to develop dental diseases. Dr. Asghar Ali Shigri Associateprofessor, Head of department of Community Dentistry is a renowned name in the field of community Dentistry and has worked for the community for many years and is still putting in his great efforts for creating awareness about dentistry and its importance in community. He has arranged school programs in which the teams visited various schools and examined the oral status and conditions of children. During the PDA Conference 2015, he was the Chief Moderator of a session on basic sciences and under his guidance and command, the session was conducted very successfully. Baqai Dental College celebrated its silver jubilee last year and with his team he organized an Exhibition and named it as “Planet Baqai”. Furthermore, World Oral health Day was celebrated at Baqai Medical Universityon a large scale and for the first time, all the Heads of Community Dentistry Departmentfrom Dental Colleges of Karachiwere invited for lectures. Driven by the love and affection he has for special children, Dr Shigri along with his faculty produced an idea of a research/survey on special children. So a team was allotted to fulfill this purpose. The team, comprised of House Officers Student body and Faculty with the help of Commandant Rangers Head Quarters, Colonel Nazeer.The team was monitored by; Prof. Dr. Mumtaz; Dr Ali Leghari; Dr Samreen; Dr Mehwish; Dr.Rakhshanda Nazar; Dr Minhajiqbal; Dr.Talha; Dr. Erum; Pashmeena Mahmood; Haisam Abdul Hameed; Sidra Baloch. On 29th of May 2015, the team visited The Rangers School for Special Children.As the team reached the school, they were received by the respected Principal, Mrs. Zahida Jalees. The team started off the oral examination in accordance with the indices mentioned in the form, so the children were examined thoroughly. The indices mentioned were DMFT (Decayed, Missed, filled teeth) Plaque Index. Fluorosis Index. Children were divided into Following Categories; Mentally Retarded Visually impaired Hearing problems/Disability Down syndrome At the end of the examination, all the children were handed over Freetoothpastes as a gift and instructions for oral hygiene maintenance were given. To lighten up the environment a musical show was arranged in which one of our Final year student, sang songs and cheered the audience. The purpose of this research was to evaluate the oral health of the children in accordance with the indices provided and to assess overall oral health problems. The intention was to highlight and resolve the oro-dental problems of these children and the motive of this field visit was successfully accomplished. The team left the school premises with a positive energy and a commitment to produce more researches in this particular area.-PR
