Karachi: The dental section of BUMDC is committed to support community-based initiatives for providing dental education and services to underserved population. Much of the data suggests that oral diseases are far more prevalent in underprivileged group of our society. In addition, physically and mentally disabled children are the most neglected group of our society when it comes to oral health care. These children encounter greater challenge in maintaining proper oral hygiene and oral health care, often due to a lack of basic motor skills and intellectual abilities that prevents proper tooth brushing. The community dentistry department pursuing its objective of providing care to children with special needs carried out an outreach to dar-ul-sukun home for special children branch on 1st of September 2015 under supervision of Dr. Kulsoom Fatima Rizvi, HoD community & preventive dentistry. The department also focused on giving its undergraduate students a skill developing exposure and experience to learn clinical diagnosis through community practice, involved 2nd year BDS students in the program who were supervised by a team of faculty members including Dr. Raima Bashir, Dr. Anum Sami, Dr. Hira Raza and Dr. Sehrish Ahmed. The students were divided in groups and performed clinical examination for oral hygiene and common oral diseases such as dental caries, gingivitis, periodontitis leading to tooth loss and malocclusion. Around 150 female residents of all age group were checked and data was collected on WHO forms. Special instructions were given to care givers on oral hygiene care and importance of healthy dentition. Colgate hygiene kits were also distributed as a token of love to special children. It was a great experience for the team as well as for those children who were delighted by the presence of young doctors around them. The department of community dentistry of BUMDC believes that the increasing dental manpower can best be utilized for the promotion of oral health and will continue its journey towards healthy smiles through Community Support Programs.-PR
