Free dental clinic set up at masjid

Vattepally: The mosque which has been a venue for running a primary health centre has now become a site of increased services by including a free dental clinic with all the equipment and professional help.

In October 2018, a city based NGO, the 'Helping Hand Foundation (HHF)' started running the primary health centre from Masjid-e-Ishaq in Achi Reddy Nagar, Nawab Sahab Kunta in the old city. Now, it has come up with a free dental clinic for all by setting up a full-fledged dental chair with all accessories to cater the dental health needs of about 22 slums areas surrounding the Masjid irrespective of caste and creed.

According to surveys conducted by the NGO in these slums, it was revealed that poor oral hygiene in children and adults is common due to lack of financial resources and proper access to dental health care in private clinics, Now, with the provision of free dental health services, a majority of the people in the slums are able to get access.

The dental clinic near the Masjid will offer free atraumatic dental procedures like removing scaling, restoring filling, handle pain complaints and interventional procedures like root canal treatment and minor surgical procedures. Dr Akbar Ali Khan, BDS, MDS and Oral Palliative Care Physician will be the primary dental and palliative care physician at the masjid health centre according to HHF.

A team of health counsellors will also give counselling on Oral hygiene and good brushing techniques in the Masjid to children in general and to adults with dental health issues.

In adult's poor dental health is mostly due to high consumption of non-smoke tobacco and the oral screening is being done to catch early signs of malignancy or pre- malignancy lesions. The NGO said that data on cancer from the public hospital's states that in 2018 nearly 21% of the adults in city of Hyderabad had cancer of the head and neck and in which oral cancer occupied the top slot.

On the preventive health side, the dental clinic will conduct community outreach program at prominent public gatherings in the slums like masjids, auto and bus stands to encourage people to undergo free oral screening. The whole idea is to check for pre malignancy lesions or other pre disposing risk factors like trismus, oral sub mucus fibrosis, white patches that are considered high risk factors for developing oral malignancies. "Suspected cases will be put under observation and counselling will be given; suspected cases will be linked to state-run cancer hospital for further examination. By setting up the dental chair we are eliminating the high cost of dental procedures which most of the people in the slums cannot afford and the Oral screening is a major preventive step in catching oral malignancies which if detected early can be cured", said Mujtaba Hasan Askari, Helping Hand Foundation, while speaking to The Hans India here on Sunday.

Askari said that in the past 6 months, the clinic at the Masjid-e-Ishaq in Achi Reddy Nagar provided free primary care treatment to over 10,000 adults and children.