Mass Tooth Brushing Action to create Kuansing That Is Free of Caries

Tuesday, October 24, 2017, thousands of students from elementary schools in Kecamatan Pangean gathered at Koto Pangean Square, Kabupaten Kuantan Singingi (Kuansing). Little Doctors from Tanoto Foundation’s partner schools were seen among them standing in neat rows.

Those children were participating in a mass tooth brushing activity held by the Indonesian Dentist Association (Persatuan Dokter Gigi Indonesia/PDGI) Kuansing Branch. This activity also received support from Tanoto Foundation.

The event was opened by Kuansing’s Secretary of Health Office, Helmi Ruspandi, S. Sos, MPH, “Dentists should not only perform their duties at home or practice offices, but they should  also meet directly with the community, gathering complaints existing in the community so that such effort may enable the achievement of Kuansing caries-free program by 2030. For this effort, we thank the various parties who have enabled this activity to be held,” he said.

Appreciation was also expressed by Acting Camat (Head) of Kecamatan Pangean, Irhandi, S.Sos. “Congratulation on the holding of this mass tooth brushing activity. I hope educative activities on dental and oral (mouth) health can continue to be held by PDGI at the community, family, as well as school levels. I hope managers of the schools can continue to actively help monitor the dental and oral health of their students. ”

Meanwhile, Chairman of PDGI of Kabupaten Kuansing, Arni Suharti, mentioned that this activity was made possible due to cooperation between the District Government, PDGI and Tanoto Foundation.

“These series of activities consist of 21 Day Morning and Evening Tooth Brushing program, followed by initial and final check-ups of the caries state of the children’s teeth at Kuansing. We hope that after these activities, the managers of the schools will yet coordinate with PDGI to continuously hold activities related to the maintenance of dental and oral health,” said Arni Suharti.

This article is written by Indra Setiawan, Tanoto Foundation Riau