World Oral Health Day 2019: 100,000BAM granted to “Dental Clinic” Specialist Center

World Oral Health Day was celebrated on March 20 at the “Dental Clinic” Specialist Center of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Banja Luka.

On this occasion, Željka Cvijanović, President of the Republic of Srpska and Alen Šeranić, Minister of Health and Social Welfare, accompanied by Prof. Dr. Radoslav Gajanin, Rector of the University of Banja Luka and Prof. Dr. Ranko Škrbić, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine visited the “Dental Clinic”.

Željka Cvijanović, President of the Republic of Srpska, says that 100,000BAM were allocated from the budget of the President for the purchase of dental chairs and equipment for the “Dental clinic” Specialist Center, and with the aim to improve the work conditions at this center and oral health of the population.

”It is my great pleasure, first as the prime minister, and now as the President of the Republic of Srpska, that I can support the work of this clinic, and all with the aim of improving oral health of the population”, said Cvijanović after visiting the “Dental Clinic” that was celebrating the World Oral Health Day.

She pointed out that it is of utmost importance that special attention is paid to the oral health of children and pregnant women.

“When I was the prime minister and we had one of the Government briefings, we were informed that a large number of children up to three years of age had caries, and that 90% of pregnant women does not have the habit of going to the dentist. After that, we equipped the Polyclinic and schools in Banja Luka with dental chairs and dental machines”, said Cvijanović, and advised citizens to use services at the “Dental Clinic”.

“The support I have for these activities fits into the program that we are implementing, which involves taking care of the youngest and pregnant women. We do this within the framework of a program for working towards a better demographic image of the Republic of Srpska”, says Cvijanović.

Alen Šeranić, the Minister of Health and Social Welfare of the Republic of Srpska, emphasized that the World Health Day is characterized by the goal of raising awareness about the importance of oral health and its role in maintaining good general health.

In the Republic of Srpska, 60 to 70 percent of children age 11 are washing their teeth more than once a day. Deciduous teeth must not be neglected, as 30 percent of two-year-olds and 90 percent of six-year-olds in the Republic of Srpska already have caries”, said Šeranić.

Prof. Dr. Ranko Škrbić, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Banja Luka, said that dental students have been visiting kindergartens in Banja Luka for the last seven days in order to educate the children on the importance of preserving oral health.

“Pregnant women and children are extremely important. We are launching an initiative in all health institutions in order to encourage pregnant women to take care of oral health”, said Škrbić and expressed gratitude to the president for the allocated funds.

 

 

Elementary school students visited “Dental Clinic”

On the occasion of the World Oral Health Day, students of the fifth grade of “Stanko Rakita” elementary school in Banja Luka visited “Dental Clinic”.

They had the opportunity to learn the proper way of maintaining oral hygiene through promotional and educational activities in the form of lectures on health and tooth hygiene and presentation of the correct technique for dental washing using an appropriate model.

Campaign launched in 2013

The World Oral Health Day Campaign was officially launched in 2013, in order to raise awareness among children and adults about the importance of oral health and its role in maintaining general health. March 20 was chosen for the following reason: children have twenty teeth; older ones should have twenty of their teeth at the end of their life to be considered healthy; this date is represented by the numbers of the month and days, that is 3/20 represents oral status that adult patients should have – 32 teeth and 0 detected caries.

This year’s slogan for the World Oral Health Day is “Say Ahh: Act on Mouth Health”.

World Oral Health Day is an initiative to help make the number of people in the world that have no problems with oral health exceed 10% of the world's population, because oral health is much more than a pretty smile!

Recent research indicates poor health condition of the mouth and teeth. Existence of cavity is at an extraordinary rise in all age groups. A large number of scientific studies indicate that it is necessary to change the basic paradigms when it comes to the health of the teeth, and it is emphasized that the preventive activities should start in pregnancy and in the first year of life. The occurrence of cavity in early childhood, or during the period of deciduous teeth, creates conditions in the oral cavity that significantly impede the formation of permanent tooth. Due to that, the World Health Organization, which set its global goals by 2020, suggests that activities that focus on cavity prevention should be targeting pregnant women and preschoolers, and the establishment of an environment that promotes oral health.