The Saudi Dental Society (SDS) will target one million primary school students in the national oral hygiene campaign that it plans to launch in February next year. Dr. Hassan S. Halawany, SDS Secretary General, said the rate of tooth decay among children in Saudi Arabia was over 90 percent – one of the highest in the world. The high prevalence of tooth decay in the Kingdom can be compared with less than five percent in the Scandinavian countries, he said. Considering the high number of dental caries among children, both Saudis and non-Saudis, the SDS has decided to launch a national campaign that will run for five years starting from February next year, he said. “The rate of tooth decay among children in Saudi Arabia - both nationals and foreigners - is so high that the Kingdom needs a protracted education campaign on oral hygiene,” Dr. Halawany said. He said the oral hygiene campaign will be launched in partnership with public and private sector companies. The idea to launch the national oral hygiene campaign came after the recent success the SDS achieved in its pilot campaign that targeted around 600 primary school students aged between six and 12 years in Makkah and Riyadh. “We are gearing up in a major way to make the national campaign a huge success,” he said. He said the SDS pilot education program applied an Atraumatic Restorative Treatment (ART) approach that includes both prevention and treatment of dental caries. The ART procedure is based on excavating and removing caries using hand instruments only and then restoring the tooth with an adhesive filling material, he said. This technique is simple enough that non-dental personnel or primary health care workers can be trained in its use. Unlike the conventional methods, ART is non-threatening, does not need expensive electrically driven equipment and can be provided at low cost. ART is suitable for use in the field – for instance in schools or in health centers with minimum equipment and resources. All one needs is a flat surface for the patient, a stool for the operator and the necessary instruments and materials for ART which can be easily carried in a small bag. ART is a perfect alternative treatment approach for dental caries, as the SDS is focusing on primary school students, whose teeth are quite often left to decay to such an extent that they needed to be extracted, he said. He said health professionals will join the campaign including students from dental colleges in the country, SDS member dentists and the dentists working in the public and private sectors. The proposed national oral hygiene campaign in the Kingdom will be the first of its kind considering the number of students it is planning to target, he said. Besides offering treatment, medical experts will also hold lectures on oral hygiene, particularly training and educating parents and children on how to get rid of dental caries, he said.
