Ho Chi Minh City establishes mobile teams to provide oral care for students.

The Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health and the Department of Education and Training are jointly piloting a school-based dental clinic model in District 1, District 5, District 6, and Can Gio District, before expanding it to the entire city.

Accordingly, mobile dental teams, comprising staff from schools, health stations, health centers, the Ho Chi Minh City Dental and Maxillofacial Hospital, or the Central Dental and Maxillofacial Hospital of Ho Chi Minh City, will conduct dental health check-ups and preventive treatments twice a year for all students attending seven primary schools (Tran Hung Dao in District 1, Bau Sen and Minh Dao in District 5, Lam Son and Nguyen Hue in District 6, Can Thanh and Can Thanh 2 in Can Gio).

At the opening ceremony of the training program for participants on April 13th, Associate Professor, Doctor Nguyen Anh Dung, Deputy Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health, stated that this activity aims to improve the quality of oral health care for students in the city. In the context of the health sector's determination to undergo digital transformation, digital data on oral health care for school-aged children will contribute to enriching the health data of the city's residents.

Following the pilot program, Ho Chi Minh City will hold a review meeting to draw lessons learned and use them as a basis for developing a plan for simultaneous implementation in the next school year and subsequent years. After the training course concludes, the mobile dental teams will begin providing examinations starting April 22nd.

A dentist in Ho Chi Minh City examines and treats a patient's teeth. Photo: HL

Based on the results of the oral health screening, school health staff will compile a list of students with oral health problems requiring intervention during the screening session. This list will be used to guide parents and guardians to bring their children to medical facilities for examination and treatment. The results of the students' oral health treatment will also be monitored regularly.

A 2019 survey by the World Health Organization (WHO) on oral health in Vietnamese children revealed that 46.5% of children aged 1-9 years had cavities in their primary teeth, and 28% of children over 5 years old had cavities in their permanent teeth. In many cases, when cavities first began, children did not receive early treatment, leading to more serious health problems and negative impacts.

Le Phuong

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