Oral Health Unit

071-6341501

www.ncdrdhskandy@gmail.com

Dr. Ranjith Gunathilaka. Regional Dental Surgion mobile/ WhatsApp: 077-7282692 email: ranjith_g1996@yahoo.com

Staff

Mrs. Ruwani Meegaswaththa	Development Officer
Mrs. W.M.Kusum Wanasinghe	Supervision School Dental Therapist

Oral health programs

Key messages

- Develop partnerships and environments to strengthen oral health promotion in key settings.

- Improve the oral health knowledge, skills, attitudes and behaviours of all Kandy district residents.

- Continue to implement programs and develop innovative approaches to prevent oral disease.

- Build capacity of oral health, community and education workforce to improve oral health promotion.

- Improve population data on oral health status to evaluate the effectiveness of health promotion interventions.

Current programs

Healthy Mouths Healthy Kids Behaviour Change Communication (BCC) Intervention for Oral Health Promotion among 0 to 3-year-old children .

The Healthy Mouths Healthy Kids initiative aims to influence practices of preschool-aged children and their families through a settings-based approach.

There is a rapidly growing evidence based recognition of the importance of oral health interventions in infancy and early childhood to achieve the best possible developmental and health outcomes for young children. Oral health outcomes of a 5-year-old child is likely to be best when oral health promotion and preventive actions begins in the infancy. The findings of the four national oral health surveys conducted in 1983/84, 1994/95, 2002/03, and 2015/16 in Sri Lanka indicate a declining trend in the prevalence and severity of dental caries over the years among all age groups. However, a substantial burden of oral disease is still prevalent during early childhood and there has not been a marked reduction in the prevalence of early childhood caries over the years. Early Childhood Caries (ECC) is defined as dental caries of the primary dentition of a child

General Objective

To promote oral health during early childhood through Health Education and Community Engagement.

Specific objectives

1. To increase oral health knowledge, attitudes and practices on the prevention of early childhood caries among the Primary Healthcare team
2. To increase oral health knowledge, attitudes and practices on the prevention of early childhood caries among non-health community working groups
3. To increase oral health knowledge, attitudes and practices on the prevention of early childhood caries among parents and care givers

Strategies

1. Advocacy for oral health promotion during early childhood
2. Incorporate Oral health into primary health and community care systems through Oral Health Education and Community Engagement
3. Incorporate behavioural strategies for oral health promotion of young children through tooth brushing, check-ups and diet modification in young children
4. Monitoring and evaluation of the BCC intervention