391. Oral culture in northern schools

Incentive Program for Education in Oral Health (PIESO) starts next academic year in 21 schools. A project that includes books with educational activities from the first until the sixth grade and suggestions for the twelfth year.

Oral health is essentially a behavioral problem and therefore there are important tips that should be treated as soon as possible. Oral hygiene to be a theme that goes along with certain curriculum, but it is a point of honor for those working in the area.

Thinking of promoting oral health care in the school community - never forgetting the vital trio of prevention, training and education - the Portuguese Union of Oral Prevention (UPPO) prepares to put the matter on the agenda. That is, oral health will enter the circuit of 21 schools in the north of the country as early as next school year. The process is still in preparation, but the mission already has a name.

Incentive Program for Education in Oral Health (PIESO) is the name of the project that will put the emphasis on oral health in the first and second cycles of basic education and secondary education. Education and motivation for oral health are well on the list of UPPO, a working partnership involving the Regional Health Administration and the North Regional Board of Education of the North. The PIESO also encompasses training in health centers to professionals and school health teams, to promote interaction between different actors.

UPPO's president, Mario Rodrigues, explains how the program will be implemented on the ground to classes in the second, fifth and twelfth grades. Younger children from six schools of Porto, will have three sessions guided by UPPO technicians and end could be made a play for the care of the teeth are present in everyday life. Actions are a major support. The books are educational activities in oral health, says the charge. Evaluation will be done through questionnaires and some epidemiological testing.

In the fifth year, students are awarded ten sessions, two of which in charge of technical UPPO. "The remaining eight will be given by teachers." Teachers are also a target audience of the PIESO or not they were a fundamental part of the school community. For this level, there are also books for educational support and guide the activities are planned two sessions of two hours, for educators and parents.

In the twelfth year of schooling, the aim is to throw challenges in the Project Area. The PIESO comes into play so that students can grasp some of the secondary ideas in the name of a healthy culture of oral health. Here's intervention is more UPPO consultancy. And ideas abound. Create a dictionary of oral health or a practical guide on the subject. Devise educational games or planning actions to raise awareness of the little ones. Occupy a column for the school newspaper with the subject or create a story for children about oral hygiene. These are some of the work possible.

The activities of the fifth and twelfth grade will involve 15 schools districts in the area of influence of the Regional Health Administration of the North. The PIESO of UPPO, who works for the implementation of a cultural oral health in an integrated way, has several institutional partnerships, including the National Association of Teachers and the National Confederation of Parents' Associations.

Educare

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Another initiative for education for oral health. But note that in the whole project, not mentioning that all students will first be seen and treated by oral health professionals. I ask: what is the interest in these programs integrate oral health into the curricula of students is not a diagnosis made in advance and allowed the dental treatment to all children and adolescents before the implementation of the initiative?

Obviously we must first address the health and then yes to prevention, the opposite is walking with the cart before the horse.