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18 ORAL HEALTH Dental Tribune Middle East & Africa Edition | 3/2017 World Oral Health Day Celebration in Dubai, UAE By Dental Tribune MEA / CAPPmea DUBAI, UAE: In more than 100 coun- tries around the world, World Oral Health Day (WOHD) is celebrated on 20th of March 2017. The main initiative of FDI is primarily to pro- mote oral health and increase public awareness. This is also the case in the UAE. This year’s main theme is “Live Mouth Smart” – encouraging the public to regularly check their teeth and mouths. The World Oral Health Day was established to turn people’s attention to the need for prevention and treatment of diseases. On this year’s World Oral Health Day (WOHD), Damian Bavvhoo, Princi- pal of GEMS Academy Silicon Oasis together with Dr Hamda Sultan Al Mesmar, Director of Dental Services Department at Dubai Health Au- thority (DHA) and Mr. Vincenzo Ven- tricelli, Vice President Philips Health and Wellness welcomed 70 students at the GEMS Wellington Silicon Oasis School. Mr Damian welcomed everyone present on this special day and en- couraged the students to participate in all the activities that have been organized. Mr. Damian encouraged everyone to focus on thinking about health and healthy living. Dr Hamda, from Dubai Health Authority during the event spoke about Dubai Smiles Healthy Award programme, which is a school based programme in line with Dubai’s 2021 vision to improve oral health and de- crease the level of caries among the students of Dubai. In her speech, Dr Hamda also explained to the chil- dren that “Live Mouth Smart” theme stands for brushing teeth twice a day, eating healthy, visiting dentist and dental hygienists regularly and to invest in a toothbrush which can remove up to ten times more plaque From the left: Mr. Vincenzo Ventricelli, Vise President Philips Health and Wellness, Dr Hamda Sultan Al Mesmar, Director of Dental Services Department from Dubai Health Authority (DHA) and Damian Bavvhoo, the Principal of GEMS Academy Silicon Oasis Students of GEMS Academy Silicon Oasis during WOHD 2017 than a manual toothbrush. Addi- tionally, all students were invited to participate in the Tooth Brushing Challenge and writing and drawing competitions. After Dr Hamda’s speech, Mr Ven- tricelli, Vice President Philips Health and Wellness explained the role of Philips in World Oral Health Day. Mr. Ventricelli mentioned that oral hygiene is a global challenge and Philips is supporting this celebration to improve the lives of people world- wide. He said that for each challenge you need a solution, and the solution for oral health is involvement of the experts to provide materials and ed- ucation on proper oral health. It is important that oral health is tak- en care of from childhood to adult- hood, prevention is easier and less painful than treatment. Therefore Philips Sonicare together with Dubai Health Authority (DHA), Dentist Direct and Gems Wellington Acad- emy Silicon Oasis organized several activities for the children to empha- size on proper tooth brushing and the importance of establishing daily good oral hygiene habits. Interview: " Tooth decay is the most common chronic childhood disease" By Dental Tribune MEA / CAPPmea Dental Tribune MEA / CAPP had the pleasure to interview Dr Shia- maa Shihab Ahmed Al Mashhadani from Dental Services Department at Dubai Health Authority (DHA) about World Oral Health Day 2017. Dental Tribune MEA / CAPP- mea: Could you please intro- duce yourself to our readers? Dr Shiamaa Al Mashhadani: I have been working at DHA for the past 6 years. I was involved in the planning and implementation of the first oral health survey for the Emir- ate of Dubai. After establishing a baseline for the level of oral health in Dubai, the next step was to set up a preventive program that would help in improving the level of oral health among the population of Dubai. I am very passionate about enhancing the level of oral health, especially among the students of Dubai and my dream is a starting point to make Dubai the number one city in the region with caries-free students. You have been working on the school prevention program for already 4 years. Could you please tell us more about it and what exactly is the idea? Oral health care is a critical compo- nent of good health. Tooth decay is the most common chronic child- hood disease: five times more com- mon than asthma. Untreated tooth decay can lead to pain and suffering, affecting a child’s ability to eat, speak, and focus at school, resulting in ab- senteeism and affecting the ability to learn and to develop physically and psychologically. Dubai Smiles Healthy is the first national preventive and commu- nity-based program implemented in the Emirate of Dubai designed to improve the oral health of chil- dren in Dubai. It is adapted from the Childsmile program of NHS Scot- land and follows the World Health Organization recommendations for preventive care. It was based on the screening pro- gram conducted in 2013 in Dubai. “Dubai Smiles Healthy” (DSH) in- cludes national and international requirements for better preventive care and overall wellbeing and hap- piness of the community and serves Students of GEMS Academy Silicon Oasis during WOHD 2017 the Dubai Health Authority’s vision to have a healthy and happy com- munity. It has three main components: Dubai Smiles Healthy - School Practice Program Preschools and Schools provide an important base to promote oral health as they reach large numbers of students who pass on these mes- sages to their families. Schools can make a substantial contribution to a student’s health and well-being. This has been increasingly recog- nised by many international initia- tives including those from the World Health Organization (WHO), UNICEF and UNESCO. This means that the oral health messages reinforced in schools will eventually reach the whole community. The early years of a child’s life is the most influ- ential time to reinforce habits and attitudes, therefore targeting the students at this age with proper oral health habits will have a lifelong ef- fect. They will be healthier and more productive individuals in their com- munity, having better quality of life with a potential to long term cost saving. Implementation of the school dental preventive visits • Mobile dental vans visit the schools according to a schedule during the school calendar year, to carry out dental screening. • School oral health screenings pro- vide parents with information about their children’s oral health and the importance of regular dental treat- ment. • School screening data identifies ar- eas with high levels of dental disease. Preventive interventions can be im- plemented in these targeted areas to improve the oral health of Dubai school children. Dubai Smiles Health - School Nurse Training Program The school nurse training program is a national initiative of Dubai Smiles Healthy preventive program. It aims at creating a school nurse workforce with the competencies to prioritise oral disease prevention and oral health promotion. The overarching goal of this training is to create an oral health educational infrastruc- ture for the school nursing profes- sion that empowers the nurses in reducing oral diseases across Dubai schools. Dubai Smiles Healthy - Child Health Program Dental hygienists lead these sessions after they undergo proper training and educational sessions. There are set guidelines that the hygienists must follow to have a unified mes- sage sent to the public. Parent education on proper oral health is the essence of the sessions. They attend with their children from the age of 6-8 weeks. Education on how to care for oral health, healthy diets and lifestyle are all part of this step. From six months of age, dental hygienists provide regular checkups and fluoride application for these children. The role of the hygienist includes: oral health advice (e.g. oral habits, diet, etc...), tooth brushing in- structions and regular dental check- ups from the age of 18 months. What was the focus of cel- ebrating WOHD on 20th of March at GEMS Wellington College? In line with this year’s World Oral Health Day theme: “Live Mouth Smart” Live Mouth Smart speaks to you about the decisions you can take to safeguard your own and your family’s oral health so you can enjoy a healthy mouth throughout life. It is time to acknowledge that the mouth plays a vital role for our physical and psychological health and how Dubai Smiles Healthy can reinforce and enhance the level of oral health and raise the awareness of the im- portance of maintaining good oral hygiene. The focus this year was to em- phasis on the link between general health and oral health, Can you tell us what is the Dubai Smiles Healthy Award about? The Dubai Smiles Healthy Award was set up to achieve Dubai Health Authority’s (DHA) 2021 strategy to raise awareness of oral health, pre- vention and screening in line with the goal of the DHA Dental Services Department to reduce caries and improve general oral health levels amongst students in Dubai. As part of the program, the DHA, in cooperation with the private sector, will visit schools to carry out dental checks on students. The purpose of the screening, which will be done at the beginning and after the Dubai Smiles Healthy Brushing Challenge finishes, is to determine if the oral hygiene level has improved. Do you think there is enough awareness among students in Dubai on oral health, or overall well-being? No, we are just starting our first steps, a recent pilot questionnaire answered by 580 mothers asking about their knowledge of oral hy- giene showed that 67% of their chil- dren were not consistent in brush- ing their teeth. We must reinforce good oral health habits, emphasising tooth brushing and a proper healthy diet. Homes, schools and the public media should work hand in hand to help raise the awareness to eliminate this silent epidemic.