Tibetannet

"Take the small toothbrush in your hands, brush on the left side, brush on the right side, brush so that your teeth don’t get cavities. Open your mouth and show me those beautiful teeth!" Zhang Ling, director of the Nursing Department at the Shanghai Xuhui District Dental Disease Prevention and Control Institute, was teaching primary school students in Dulong Dechen District, Lhasa, southwest China’s Tibet about oral health care.

On September 12, a team of medical experts from the Shanghai Xuhui District Dental Disease Prevention and Control Institute came to Bare Village in Gurong Township, Dulong Dechen District, Lhasa, Tibet. Here, they are carrying out oral health volunteer services as part of "Beautiful Tibet" program, providing free oral health care services to more than 80 students at the Gurong Township Bare Village Primary School.

"I’m eight and a half years old. This is my first time to see a dentist. Today, a doctor from Shanghai helped me remove a tooth decay, and now it doesn’t hurt," Gurong Township Bare Village Primary School student Karma Choezhen told reporter. "I will brush my teeth every day from now on. After drinking sweet tea, I have to rinse my mouth with water."

It is understood that the purpose of this event is to investigate the feasibility of a three-year action plan for oral health services in Tibet. At the same time, oral health questionnaires and checklists, sampling water source specimens, conducting epidemiological investigations, and analyzing local residents’ oral health care awareness and related behavior will provide local health administrative departments with reasonable intervention strategies and steps for oral health care to improve the overall health care for people in Tibet.