1000 Students in Mashhad Are Covered by Oral Health Promotion Program

Oral Health Promotion Program is arranged to have coverage over 450,000 primary school students in Mashhad.

According to WebDa, Dr. Bahman Kalali, the expert official of Oral Health Department in Health and Hygiene Administration of Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, asserted: this program, comprising screening visits, oral health instruction and fluoride therapy, is under execution since last year with the collaboration of Education and Training Organization of Khorasan Razavi. Last year, about 245,000 students were covered by this national program in the first stage, and about 220,000 in the second stage.

Dr. Kalali added: based on the schedule, with the execution of this program in all primary schools, almost 478,000 students would be covered this year.

Highlighting that Mashhad University of Medical Sciences has covered the highest number of primary school students, Dr. Kalali added: the execution of this program started on October 18. As to the predictions, about 90% of primary school students would participate in this program.

He asserted: at the moment, all students’ oral health related information is being recorded in Health System’s comprehensive country-wide electronic system.

As the expert official of Oral Health Department of Health and Hygiene Administration put it, the most important objective in executing this program is preventing the outbreak of oral and dental diseases which is to be substantiated by caregivers and health workers through offering oral and dental health instructions.

“6^th tooth dental restoration is a priority in this program” said Dr. Kalali, “In this program, after primary checkups, students’ oral and dental data is recorded in the system, then the fluoride therapy package is given to the student. In case a student needs some treatment, s/he is referred to Comprehensive Health Service centers”.

He added: in villages, the services are free for pregnant women and kids under 14 years of age. Though in cities, the services are offered with 50% discount to kids under 14 only in case they are covered by an insurance.

“With the execution of Fluoride therapy program in recent years, we are witnessing a partial improvement in kids’ oral and dental health”, said the expert official of Oral Health Department of Health and Hygiene Administration, and averred: “in the regions under supervision of Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, the index of tooth decay in kids was 1.96 in 2014. This index fortunately decreased to 1.89 in 2015”.