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Public Health Dentistry is a specialized branch of dentistry which focuses on the overall oral health of the community. The branch deals with preventive and curative services for individual patients and also promotion of better oral health for community at large. This branch shows a different role of dentist in society as a provider of comprehensive dental care to the public. Uneven distribution of dental care facilities especially in rural areas, lack of awareness regarding oral health and hygiene are bound to make Public Health Dentistry an important discipline.

The subject dental public health is of vital importance to the undergraduates and the main motto of our department is "Affordable, Accessible and Sustainable Oral health Care”. The skills in Public Health are those required to care for a community as well as individuals within the community. Through our teaching and learning program, research and public service, our department continues to meet this challenge.

Objectives

The objectives are achieved through Teaching Programs, Research Activities, Patient Care and Outreach Activities.

• * Promotion of Effective Efforts in Oral Disease Prevention, Oral Health Promotion and Oral Health Care Delivery services.
• * Education of the Public, Health Professionals, Health Care Workers, School Teachers and Decision-Makers regarding the importance of Oral Health to total well-being,
• * Expansion of the Knowledge base of Community dental health and Fostering Competency in its delivery and practice.

Teaching Programs

The teaching program focuses on Behavioral Sciences, Oral epidemiology, Preventive Dentistry, Dental Ethics, Dental manpower, Quality Assurance, Oral Health Care Delivery, Regulations, Bio medical waste management, Nutrition and Oral health, Oral Health Surveys, Planning and Evaluation.

The objectives are to allow students to get exposed to Professional and Ethical issues in dentistry, Acquire philosophy and methods of preventive dentistry and epidemiology, Assess dental care quality. Develop communication, Interviewing and patient management skills. Understand organization and administration of dental practice and provide students with both clinical and oral health promotion experiences in Public-based settings.

Highlights

• * The Department provides basic preventive and treatment procedures free of cost to patients referred from various screening programs and satellite centers. Specialized treatments are provided at a subsidized rate.
• * The Department runs one satellite community dental centre at yalagodu to provide patient care experiences to undergraduate and internship residents. Basic dental care to community is provided free of cost in the centers.
• * The Department also has a state-of-art built mobile dental unit with one fully functional dental chair, separate audio-video unit for health education. Mobile dental unit makes dental care accessible to large segment of underserved population for free of cost. Outreach Activities: The Department conducts weekly dental screening and treatment camps. In addition, the Department is responsible for providing oral health screening and fluoride treatments to school children at health fairs in underserved communities and in elementary schools.
• * Two schools, both in the private sector have been adopted as part of our school dental health program.
• * The department has adopted 2 villages (Halekallu- 28KM, Tuppadahalli-31KM) for creating total oral health care and awareness of all the people in the villages including schools and anganawadi Kendra.
• * Oral cancer screening programs and tobacco awareness programs are also conducted at high risk and remote areas.