–conveniently located on premises

ALMOST 300 resident President’s College students will be in receipt of greater access to dental care with the commissioning on Friday of a dental centre at the institution.
The centre is conveniently located on the school’s compound at Golden Grove, East Coast Demerara (ECD), and is also open to other schools and residents in the neighbourhood.

According to the school’s principal, Carlyn Canterbury, the facility is as a result of the Ministry of Public Health’s realisation that supervised dental care is essential to live-in students who oftentimes are only able to visit home once per month or term.

And on top of this, nurses previously had the tedious task of taking students to the dental school in Georgetown whenever they experienced a dental problem.

As such, the school was tasked by the Public Health Ministry with providing a suitable building for housing of the Centre, while it took care of the equipment and staffing.
Canterbury explained that while at present students are being examined as the need arises, soon there will be a mandatory screening system in place, as a more efficient means for them to take good care of their oral hygiene.

“We’re in the process of putting together a screening programme where we make it mandatory that every class be examined, which will determine the need,” she said, adding:
“And who has to return will be given an appointment date, while those who are okay may be given just a check-up date.”
“We know the culture in Guyana: We go to the dentist when we’re affected. But that is what we want to move away from.”

OPEN DAILY
The facility will function from Monday to Friday, with Wednesdays reserved exclusively for students and staff.
While it began functioning earlier in the year, it was only officially commissioned on Friday.
The center’s dentist, Dr. Collin Waterman told the Guyana Chronicle that residents in and around Golden Grove have come to appreciate the free dental services offered by the college.

“They’re very thankful,” he said: “In the morning hours, we actually work on outpatients from the community, and in the afternoon hours we look at persons from President’s College.”

As Dr. Fiona Perry of the Ministry of Public Health observed, oral health is integral to overall health, and that while it is still a global challenge in this day and age, Guyana is pretty much on top of the game.
“The Ministry of Public Health has made great strides in improving oral health overall in the years,” Dr. Perry said.

“It has placed strong emphasis on educating people about dental care. It has been said ‘If a patient cannot clean his own teeth, no dentist can clean them for him,’” she added.
That said, she used the occasion to urge the public to keep in mind that tobacco and alcohol are contributors to dental issues, and to thank those who worked on making the new facility a reality.

“The Ministry of Public Health,” she said, “recognises the importance and value oral health services a school dental centre like this can provide.”
“Dental professions in particular have a contribution to make in an integrated approach, and on placing emphasis on our preventative aspects.”

Principal Canterbury also expressed her appreciation on behalf of the school for the assistance rendered them by the Ministry of Public Health.
During the commissioning, several presentations came in the form of song, skits and poems from children of a number of nursery and primary schools in and around the community.