This week, The Pioneer brings to you a society that exclusively focuses on dental professionals, and is committed towards improving public oral health.
PNS| HYDERABAD
Financial constraints can often exclude talented students from marginalised communities from dropping out before even completing their dental education. To empower future dental professionals, Haleon India, makers of Sensodyne, as a part of its ongoing corporate social responsibility initiative, partnered with the Indian Dental Association to offer scholarships. This association is an independent voice of dental professionals! They are committed to improving public oral health by
promoting advanced, science-based dentistry that puts the patient at the center through their initiatives in education, research, and development of high standards for dental care — “The flag bearer of oral health, the association endeavors to meet the public needs and expectations. We acknowledge that oral health is an integral part of general health and well-being. Good oral health is vital to good overall health. Poor oral health negatively affects growth, development, learning, nutrition and communication, self-esteem for all sections of society, young and old have and have-nots. India exposes disparities in oral health, with lower-income groups having higher disease rates, limited or no access to care. Indian democracy is committed to the care and well-being of its citizens. The nation’s long-term investment in science and technology has paid off. We are proud that these advances have added years to the average life span and enhanced the quality of life,” announced Dr. Rajiv Chugh, the president of the association.
Nobody suffers from oral diseases which can be prevented and treated. Young children do not from suffer caries. Rural populations do not experience poor oral health due to barriers to access to care, a shortage of resources and professionals. The elderly and differently-abled are treated with special care. Pregnant women receive careful high quality treatment. Why take action? India’s continued growth in diversity has resulted in a society with broad, educational, cultural, language, and economic differences which hinder some individuals and groups from realizing gains in oral health. National Oral Health Survey conducted by IDA highlighted dental disparities that revealed the silent epidemic of oral diseases affecting rural Indians — our most vulnerable citizens. The survey found the Dentist: Population ratio in rural areas to be dismally low with less than 2% of dentists being available for 72% of rural population. The grim reality in India is that 95% of the population suffers from gum disease, only 50% use a toothbrush and just 2% of the population visits the dentist.
So, “The survey sounded an alarm and the need to affirm once again that oral health is very vital to general health and well-being. The association’s immediate response was to address the ‘silent epidemic of oral diseases affecting the most vulnerable citizens of lowest strata young and old and under-privileged groups’. The perception ingrained in Indian mindset is that oral health is less important than and separate from general health. Activities to overcome these attitudes and beliefs are taken up at the grassroots level which can lead to increased oral health literacy, understand basic oral and craniofacial information and services needed to make appropriate health decisions. In this way, the prevention, early detection and management of diseases of the dental, oral, and craniofacial tissues can become integrated in health care. Formation of community-based programmes and social services will promote the general health and well-being of all Indians!”
While we turn the pages of history, it was actually Dr. Rafiuddin Ahmed who is remembered as the father of modern dentistry in India. After the passing away of his father, Rafiuddin left Calcutta in 1909 for Bombay. He travelled from Bombay to the UK and further to the United States of America. He enrolled himself at the University of Iowa School Of Dentistry. He repetitively stressed the broad-mindedness of the
western education system. Dr. R. Ahmed graduated from the University of Iowa as a Doctor of Dental Surgery in 1915. During the World War-I, he worked at the Forsyth Dental Infirmary for Children in Boston, Massachusetts until 1918. In 1919, a year after the war ended, he returned to India to open a dental practice in Calcutta. Dr. R. Ahmed always had a sense of urgency and therefore wasted no time in pursuing what he wanted to achieve. In 1920, a year after his return, he founded the first dental college of India ‘The Calcutta Dental College’ financed by the New York Soda Fountain in Calcutta. The college was run on an experimental basis with only eleven students from 1920 to 1923. He also took the responsibility of teaching dentistry, both theoretical and clinical along with other dedicated teachers. By 1928, the college was a well-organised institution for scientific dental education in India!
