KARACHI- Preventive Dentistry is an integral component of dental management. It is more important in those disease where treatment is of longer duration and due to which overall cost of the treatment is also high. In Pakistan, among dental diseases, unfortunately incidence of Oral Cancer is very high. In males, it is the second most common cancer after lung cancer. Most of these patients reported at very terminal stages where only palliative treatment is possible.To emphasize the importance and awareness of Oral Cancer, HUDH in collaboration with Union Council 04, New Karachi Town organized an awareness program for local community at Godhra Medical Muslim Center. Dr Umair Ali was the coordinator of the program while Dr Raza Ali, Dr Sehar Ahmed, Dr Abira Siddiqui, Dr Abdul Qadir, Dr Saqib Naeem, Dr Hira Manzoor, Dr Anum Iqbal, Dr Adil Ghouri and Dr Maham Naeem were also a part of the team. Program started with presentation by Dr Umair in which he discussed in detail the preventive measures of oral cancer. Later, a dental camp was also arranged at which a total of 480 patients were examined, of these 480 patients 70% were female and 30 % were males with age ranging from 30-55 years. 30% of the total examined patients were having OSF, 85% patients having habit of eating pan, chalia, gutka type of stuff. With such high incidence of OSF it is more important to increase awareness about hazards of such stuff that are causing Oral Cancer among general public. Government, media, dental institutes all have to play their vital role in this regard. At the end, Mr Afaq Saeed, Town Administrator, gave a vote of thanks and assured that he will always be ready to cooperate in arranging such activities.
