Advancing Oral Health for All: World Oral Health Day Campaigns in Action

Yangchun city, a county-level city in the southwest of Guangdong,China Province. With a total area of over 4,000 square kilometers,it is the most karst area in the south mainland China , with mountainous areas accounting for nearly 70% of its total area and a permanent population of about 1.2 million.

Since 2009, the “Elders and Children Tooth Care Miles Journey”, the public welfare project has been continuously implemented for 17 years without interruption.In 2023, in response to the initiative of "Addressing the Inequality of Oral Health Care for Vulnerable Groups" proposed by the World Dental Union, free mobile dental clinics were launched throughout the city to improve the oral health status of the elderly, children and vulnerable groups and narrow the gap between urban and rural dental medical resources. 

On March 20th, World Oral Health Day, we visited Yifu Primary School to provide on-site dental care including fissure sealants and fillings for early caries. We taught students how to brush their teeth correctly, the importance of regular dental check-ups, and how to reduce sugar intake, promoting the concept of oral health care.

At the same time, we joined hands with the Stomatological Hospital of Southern Medical University to walk into 8 village committees and carry out the public welfare action of "thousands of miles for old and young teeth protection." Not only that, we have innovatively used mobile scanning devices to quickly complete oral scans for children. Doctors perform diagnoses on-site, and parents receive reports that help them better understand their children’s dental health conditions.

At the event site, mobile CT diagnosis and treatment vehicles equipped with AI image analysis system became a highlight. The vehicle carries an advanced digital platform, which can carry out oral three-dimensional CT scanning for villagers through rapid and accurate digital image acquisition, cooperate with dental caries filling, tooth cleaning, periodontal treatment and other diagnosis and treatment services, and construct a closed loop of "screening-diagnosis-treatment" full-process health management for villagers.

In view of the high incidence of oral diseases such as periodontitis and dental caries among the elderly in rural areas, the medical team innovates to create a compound service mode of "intelligent screening + on-site teaching": on the one hand, three-dimensional reconstruction technology of CT images is used to present oral lesions in a three-dimensional manner, so that villagers can intuitively understand their own oral problems. On the other hand, through on-site oral prevention and protection and oral treatment, in addition to solving common dental diseases for villagers, dental cleaning and other services are also carried out. Simultaneously distribute tooth protection kits containing toothbrushes and toothpaste and popular science manuals for World Health Oral Day to strengthen villagers 'awareness of daily health care.

    Summary:A total of 2998 people participated in the World Oral Health Day series activities, of which 2464 received different types of dental disease prevention and treatment, and 3000 oral health science manuals were distributed.

This free clinic fully demonstrates the three-level prevention concept of "early detection, early diagnosis and early treatment." Through the double-wheel drive of "technology sinking + science popularization," professional oral medical resources will be accurately delivered to the grass roots, and the oral health literacy and health care ability of residents in remote areas will be effectively improved. We will take World Oral Health Day as an opportunity to continue to carry out tooth protection public welfare actions covering towns and towns in the whole city to help build a "healthy YangChun " oral prevention and control system.