A través de un convenio público – privado, estudiantes de la Sede de la Patagonia pusieron en marcha el Proyecto de Vinculación con el Medio “Más Dientes Sanos”. Con la iniciativa, buscan combatir la prevalencia de caries en niños de entre 7 a 11 años de sectores rurales. 

After investigating a lack of coverage for education and prevention of children’s oral health in rural sectors of the regional capital, the 5th and 6th year students of the Dentistry program at the San Sebastián University, Patagonia headquarters, David Hernández and Renato Peña promoted the Environmental Linkage project “More Healthy Teeth”, through which they seek to contribute to rural schools with clinical actions.

With the support and leadership of academic Paulina Moraga, the students will serve 1,300 students from ten municipal rural schools and three subsidized private schools. Once the visit and detection stage is completed, they will provide comprehensive care at the Health Center of the San Sebastián University, in Puerto Montt, to 800 schoolchildren.

Collaborative project 

To make possible this initiative that contributes to the Territorial Milestone Program More Health, More Close (of the San Sebastián University), David and Renato carried out a diagnosis of the dental care received by students in the commune of Puerto Montt, where they investigated that, how well There is a national GES dental care program for children under 6 years of age and a Junaeb program that covers 65% of students in rural schools, children between 7 and 11 years old were left without care.

In this regard, Hernández pointed out that “we have realized how difficult it is to have access to health in rural sectors, especially in dentistry, where the most common barriers are transportation and other difficulties for patients to attend services.” medical rounds. The objective of this project is to break down these barriers, complementing the dental care that the Municipality currently has in areas where it cannot reach.

Meanwhile, his colleague Renato Peña referred to the origin of the initiative, for which they managed contributions from the Environmental Linkage Project, as well as from private companies such as AquaChile, Mowi and Salmones Austral, among others.

“The moment we realized the state and needs that the children had, we wanted to be able to change this barrier of distance and resources to intervene in the oral health of the students with an educational, preventive and rehabilitative approach. We want promote that prevention is the solution in health,” he pointed out.

It should be noted that dental cavities occur from the first years of life and increase with age, representing a prevalence of the disease of 16.8% at 2 years, 49.6% at 4, 70.4%. at 6, 62.5% at 12.

Source: www.diariodepuertomontt.cl