Ludhiana, June 26
The “Smiley Project”, an innovative community dentistry project, launched by Christian Dental College (CDC), is fast gathering momentum. This was evident at a recently concluded camp at Phagwara where denture sets were provided to as many as 46 needy senior citizens at their doorstep. For this purpose, the CDC team visited the target area four times in a short span of about 40 days. During the same camp, 127 other patients were also treated for other dental problems such as teeth cleaning and fillings etc.

Stating this here today, CDC principal Dr J.L. Joshi informed that the department of community dentistry of the institution was occupied in the noble cause of providing dental services to the population of remote rural areas and urban slums. “Smiley project, in particular, focuses on providing dentures to neglected senior citizens so that they may not just smile again but also enjoy healthy and nutritious food.”

The camp at Phagwara was arranged in association with the Blood Donation Council, Phagwara, and Operation Blessings, India. Malkiat Singh, president, Blood Donor’s Council, who also happens to be the president of Phagwara municipal committee, lauding the work done by CDC team, said, “People are grateful for the services provided by the members of the CDC team led by Dr N.C. Mann. We also appreciate their efforts of delivering international quality dentures at a very reasonable cost. Even the government organisations cannot match the services we have been provided by CDC.”

Making an open invitation to other local bodies interested in availing services under the “Smiley Project”, Dr Joshi said the college could provide 15 doctors and at least five supporting staff members at one single camp to cater to a bigger number of patients. “We plan to add one more van so that the department can cover a larger area and of course, larger, deserving population.”

Giving details of future plans, Dr N.C. Mann, senior consultant, said very soon, a cluster of villages including Kokri Kalan, Mukandpur, Manuke, Rauni and Dhamot would be covered where around 80 denture sets will be handed over to needy patients in a month’s time.

“The project has achieved appreciable landmarks due to the dedicated work and ceaseless efforts of the CDC mobile team led by Dr Harmunish, Dr Simmerpreet and Dr Sandhya. Other dental services such as teeth cleaning and polishing, extraction of badly decayed teeth and restoration of decayed teeth are also taken care of, by this team.”

Dr Mann further said another very important aspect of this exercise was promoting dental hygiene awareness which was done through dental exhibits, lectures and demonstration. Rural area inhabitants were guided to get maximum out of the conventional methods and material at their disposal.