WALAWALKAR DANT CHIKITSA YOJANA

OVERVIEW

School provides an ideal setting for educating children & improving oral hygiene at an early age.
A good oral health in a child means that the child can develop better physically & psychologically into healthy adult.
Dental Caries is one of the most common preventable diseases occurring among children.
Dental Caries not only causes damage to the tooth but is also responsible for several morbid conditions of the oral cavity & other systems of the body.
Presence of Dental Caries in primary dentition is a significant pointer for having caries in permanent dentition.
Especially in Rural communities there seems to be a steady unhindered increase in dental infections due to lack of dental care.
Children in rural areas of kokan are often seem malnourished with poor oral hygiene because of poverty, low socio-economic status, deep rooted superstitious beliefs, ignorant health seeking behaviors & poor awareness regarding oral as well as general health.
Thus in order to control the carious process, B.K.L Walawalkar Hospital in collaboration with Tata Memorial Centre implemented School Dental Health Project- WALAWALKAR DANT CHIKITSA YOJANA to assess & render the treatment required along with spreading awareness about the prevention of dental caries & consumption of tobacco.

To assess the awareness about oral hygiene in all talukas of Ratnagiri district.
To determine the prevalence of dental caries among 6-15 years’ school going children in the rural areas of kokan region.
Screening Zilla Parishad School children for dental caries & referring them to hospital for tertiary care & further management of caries.
Designing interventional strategies along with proper dental treatment.

School students from Zilla Parishad schools of selected centres of Ratnagiri district are examined during screening visits in schools .
School students having dental problems like caries and calculus are referred to hospital for dental treatment and general checkup during referral visits at hospital
Age Group : 6 – 14 Years

STEP 1] Permission would be obtained from Zilla Parishad District Educational Officer.
STEP 2] The Educational Officer would be contacted & number & location of schools along with number of school children would be obtained.
- Based on this data operational planning for the project would be done including the following:
- Timetable for screening of school children at different schools.
- Logistics required for carrying out field activities.
- Planning of human resources including Doctors, Nurses & other staff.
- Setting up of referral mechanism to B.K.L Walawalkar Hospital for treatment
STEP 3] Actual Screening of school children that would include the following in the proforma:
- Personal details, School details & basic oral hygiene habits questionnaire data.
- Anthropometric measurements including age, weight & height.
- Dental examination for oral hygiene & dental caries assessment including grading of tooth.
STEP 4] Children with carious tooth would be referred to hospital by giving informed consent to school principal & parents.
STEP 5] Preventive measures including Oral Health Education would be provided to children through power point presentations. Also a kit containing toothbrush & toothpaste would be given to children with actual demonstration of brushing teeth.

Students were examined by Dentist under natural daylight & torchlight using WHO criteria for recording the DMFT Index in which Decayed, Missing & Filled teeth were recorded in the proforma.
Awareness session was taken by Dentist in which introduction of proper brushing techniques, importance of teeth, use of toothbrush & toothpaste, maintaining proper oral hygiene & ill effects of tobacco were explained to children.
Oral hygiene kit containing toothbrush & toothpaste were given to children with actual demonstration of brushing teeth.
Informed consent form was given to school principal for further planning of referral visits.

School children were brought in batches of 20-25 to B.K.L Walawalkar Hospital on scheduled dates in hospital vehicle & treatment was provided as indicated.
The children were treated with indicated treatment that included GIC (Glass Ionomer Cement) Fillings, Scalings & Extractions.
During referral visits a health talk session through power point presentation was given by Dentist to school students, teachers & parents.
In the health talk session given by Dentist, importance of teeth, types of teeth, healthy diet, proper brushing techniques, side effects of tobacco & smoking & overview of treatment protocol were explained.
After dental treatment each student was taken to pediatric department in B.K.L Walawalkar Hospital for general health check-up.

Necessary treatment including Glass Ionomer Cement fillings for carious teeth to improve chewing ability, scaling for teeth with calculus and stains and extraction for grossly carious retained deciduous teeth was done accordingly.
Thus, since 2007 to 2025 overall dental treatment worth Rs 8,733,950 including GIC, scalings and extractions was done free of cost by B.K.L. Walawalkar Hospital.

NAME	DESIGNATION
DR SUVARNA PATIL	MEDICAL DIRECTOR & PROJECT ORGANISER
DR SANGEETA WANJARI	HEAD OF DEPARTMENT [DENTISTRY]
DR DIPAK PATIL	ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR [DENTISTRY]
DR ASHWINI GAJAKOS	RESIDENT DENTIST [DENTISTRY]
DR SEJAL SAWANT	RESIDENT DENTIST [DENTISTRY]
DR GAYATRI SHAHANE	RESIDENT DENTIST [DENTISTRY]
DR DEEPA KOKANE	RESIDENT DENTIST [DENTISTRY]
ROSHANI GURAV, NEHA GHAG, RIDDHI MAHADIK, ANJALI GHADSHI, SNEHAL BAMBADE	NURSING STAFF [DENTISTRY]

Walawalkar Dant Chikitsa Yojana demonstrated a steady expansion in school dental health services, with remarkable rise in screening and treatment visits after 2022.
Overall the initiative highlights the growing impact of our organized school dental health program in improving oral and overall health care access for children in kokan region.
Total No of Students Screened from 2015 – 2025 :- 1170
Total No of Students with Carious Teeth from 2015 – 2025 : – 7307 [62.39%]
After Treatment No of Students with Carious Teeth reduced to :- 2520 [21.52%]