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It
was Dr. Rizali Noor as head of the dental health department
who in 1972 challenged Drg. Be Kien Nio to prove that a
clinic based on prevention and health education can be lucrative
for the staff and at the same time improve dental health
of its patients. The implementation was left to Drg. Be,
who at that time lectured Preventive Dentistry on at the
Public University of Padjadjaran Bandung. With a few colleagues
and friends a foundation was founded with a notary act and
a board was gathered to decide on regulations aims and targets.
A simple planning was made but the basic philosophy was
the improvement of Oral and dental health through prevention
and Dental Health Education. In the first years the foundation
received help from Australia for her fluorides and from
the local Church-specifically the Ursuline Sisters agreed
to the use of a big room to start the project. The clinic
was officially opened in 1973. The first school that cooperated
with the idea was a nearby primary school in 1972, taking
the children class by class starting from the first grade
until it was possible to take in more classes and gradually
the whole school was enrolled and the School Dental Service
(Usaha Kesehatan Gigi Sekolah /or UKGS was integrated into
the school curriculum.
The
parents of the children were informed of the programmed,
and since then it has become a part of the introduction
to parents when the new school year starts; the information
to parents includes what is done and not done by the school
dental service (see to prevent misunderstanding and to obtain
permission of the parents to treat their children should
treatment be necessary. By the year 1997 the Foundation
had 6 Primary School and 9 Kindergartens both private and
public with a total of 4000 children.
Belonging
to a religious order that is dedicated to education Drg
Be (often called Sr Kien) was and still is very interested
in the educational/promotional aspect of the project. In
the year 1979 at the suggestion of a colleague a Dental
Health Education Section was formed which concentrated on
Dental Health Education. All educational material was gathered
and published - lessons as well as audiovisual aids (from
the most simple flashcards to other audiovisual material
slides) The Dental Health Education Section has grown into
a good business, as the lessons on Dental health range from
Kindergarten booklets to 6 booklets for each grade of the
Primary School a few teacher who knew about teaching methods
and instructions were employed, so that our team of 16 members
consisted out of dentists, dental nurses and dental assistants,
16.
In
1975 the need for an adult clinic became obvious and at
the request of the parents of our school children a clinic
was opened in a poor region not far from our School Dental
Service with a social aspect; and cheap services. The children
of the school dental service who needed treatment could
come to this clinic for free if they came at their own initiative
and if it was kind of treatment promised in our planning;
simple fillings and relieve of pain. Complicated treatments
- like extractions with local anesthetics are referred to
their private dentists or the adult clinic moved from this
poor area to a room next to the school dental service and
furnished in 1982.
To subsidies the programmed in the morning the dental facilities
are rented to private dentists who can practice and share
their income with the foundation, in this way the foundation
has been able to finance the morning programmers the adult
clinic as well as the school dental service, while the staff
has to work hard on prevention to lesson expenses necessary
for dental treatment.
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