Pre-school and 1st cycle schools will receive 100 oral hygiene kits to distribute to students, announced this Sunday, March 20, the Directorate-General for Health (DGS).
The project is part of the National Program for the Promotion of Oral Health (PNPSO) of the Directorate-General for Health (DGS) and is part of the SOBE+ Project (Oral Health School Libraries).
On World Oral Health Day, which is celebrated today, March 20, the DGS takes stock of the activity, namely the “Brushing at School” project, which provides, among other initiatives, the distribution of kits, consisting of toothpaste and toothbrush. , inside a cup with a lid, for children to brush their teeth at school.
All public, private and social school institutions can apply for the project. For this, it is enough for them to present an oral health promotion project that includes daily tooth brushing, carried out in a school environment, and in partnership with SNS health units (oral health and/or school health teams).
Under the project, which promotes brushing teeth in kindergartens and schools, more than one million kits have been made available in recent years.
In the school context, several other practices that promote health and literacy are recommended, such as the adoption of a balanced diet, taking into account the necessary reduction in the consumption of sugary foods and drinks, mouthwash with a fluoride solution in the 1st cycle and the application of fluoride varnishes to children who attend kindergarten.
Also within the scope of the SOBE+ Project, the book “O Meu Mirror da Saúde Oral”, by Miguel Lopes Oliveira, is available in digital format. The book, available on SOBE+ and also in the libraries of the School Libraries Network, invites you to self-assess your oral health, also making known about oral diseases and their consequences and presenting proposals for good health practices.
The SOBE+ Project, developed in partnership by the DGS, the School Libraries Network (RBE) and the National Reading Plan 2027 (PNL2027), has made various recreational and pedagogical materials available to RBE libraries (books, films, games, music and others).
According to the DGS, «access to consultations in Stomatology, Dentistry and Oral Hygiene has been reinforced, either through the allocation of dental checks, or through referrals for consultations in Dentistry and Oral Hygiene in health centers that have these professionals".
The groups that currently access the Oral Hygiene consultation at the health center are children and young people aged 4, 7, 10 and 13 years old. The groups with access to dental or dental consultations by issuing a dental check are pregnant women, children and young people aged between 2 and 18, beneficiaries of the solidarity supplement, people with HIV/AIDS and users with suspected cancer. oral.
«Since 2008, more than 190 million euros have been invested in 19,5 million dental treatments that covered around 4,7 million users», says the DGS.
The overall rate of use of dental checks and referrals for oral hygiene consultations in health centers is around 70%, highlighting that around 60% of the treatments carried out to these users were preventive.
Currently, more than 5.700 dentists and stomatologists attend, in more than 11.100 private offices, SNS users with dental checks.
In the SNS there are 110 oral hygienists at the level of Primary Health Care and 138 offices with appointments in Stomatology/Dental Medicine.
World Oral Health Day, established by the International Dental Federation (FDI), has been celebrated since 2013, with the aim of giving visibility and reinforcing the importance of maintaining oral health throughout life and its impact on general health.
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