Department of Public Health Dentistry

Collaborations, networking and partnerships:                                                                 
Over The Past Decade, the department has established collaborative partnerships with various international and national Tri-sector partners. (Government, Private and Civil Society) as mentioned below:

Previous Major Projects:

1. Partnership with WHO-KOBE, SEARO
   Project titled:
   “Advocacyand development of partnerships towards development of guided vision and a health promotion policy for the urban poor of Bangalore city, India”
   Time: Sept 2005to June 2006
   Department: Public Health Dentistry
2. Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School Of Public Health ,Institute Of Global Tobacco Control
   Project titled: Risks and benefits involved in smoking and quitting among young adults: a cross country comparison’: a five country multi centric study
   Time: Sept 2006 toSept 2007
   Department: Public Health Dentistry
3. Partnership with Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Buffalo, New York 14263 USA
   Project titled: TTURC Developmental Research Program (DRP): International Tobacco Product Repository and Analysis Program.
   Time: February to May 2007
   Department: Public Health Dentistry

Ongoing Projects:

1. Collaboration with University College, London, Dental Public Health Group
   Technical support from WHO Oral Health Division
   Funding from university [Rajiv Gandhi University of health sciences]
   Project Titled: A pilot ‘Bangalore health promoting school initiative’
2. Partnership with Harvard School of Dental Medicine, Harvard University, USA
   Project Titled: Undergraduate Curriculum in Public Health Dentistry: Curriculum Review and Reform
3. Partnership with government, private sector and civil society in the ‘Bangalore Healthy City Initiative’: 
   CTPHCF, a civil society NGO has undertaken the initiative to develop Bangalore as a model Healthy City with WHO Technical support. The CAMHADD Tri-sector Preventive Health Care Programme for Urban Poor on Bangalore is a direct and most valuable outcome of the Commonwealth Foundation-sponsored Tri-sector Dialogue. The Tri-sector partnership has obtained its impact in the Bangalore Health City initiative through sustained advocacy efforts and DAPM R V dental college has played a pioneering role as one of the principal stake holders of the partnership.
4. Partnership with CAMHADD-CTPHCF in alliance with whom more than 6 Global Consultative Workshops have been organized since 2004 with support from WHO and Commonwealth Foundation.

Other Departmental Projects
Completed Projects

• Effectiveness of KIDENT – A children’s oral health magazine in improving KAB of 6 – 8 yrs old in urban Bangalore – An experimental study
• Factors influencing choice of oral hygiene aids – A cross sectional study  among students of a dental institution in Bangalore
• Self Reported prevalence of oral malodor among undergraduate students of a dental institution in Bangalore
• Association between qualifying entrance exam and 1st year BDS university marks – A cross sectional study
• KAP of oral health among 1st year students of R V College of Physiotherapy – a cross sectional study
• Evaluation of stress levels among 1st year dental students of DAPMRV dental college – A cross Sectional Study
• Formative Vs Summative assessment of I, II BDS students & faculty of a dental institution in India
• The students voice: Strengths & weakness of preclinical curriculum in Dentistry – A focus group study
• Opinion of dental faculty & undergraduates on student’s academic performance – yearly evaluation Vs Continuous assessment
• Curriculum review of oral health information in Karnataka state secondary education board syllabus – observational study

Ongoing Projects

• Development and evaluation of “Sparkyman – the tooth saver” an oral care edutainment board game for 8-12 year old children.
• Aerated drinks causing dental problems!! Awareness amongst 1st year students of dental college. A cross sectional study.
• Reasons for choosing dentistry as a career: a cross sectional study among the 1st year students in a dental institution in Bangalore
• Perceive sources of stress among dental students in final year of UG in D.A.P.M.R.V. Dental College-a cross sectional study
• Factors influencing choice of oral hygiene aids – a cross sectional study among the final year students of a dental institution in Bangalore
• Factors influencing the choice of post – graduate courses among house-surgeons – A questionnaire study In press for Publication in JIAPHD – 2012
• Tobacco related knowledge , attitude & practice among first and second year dental undergraduates in a dental teaching institution-A cross sectional survey
• Factors influencing internet access & usage by students in a Dental College, for Health Related Information
• Design an oral health education module for the blind children
• Effectiveness of an audio-visual aided & orientation programme in improving knowledge & attitude of first year BDS students, towards the institution
• Choco demon and tooth fairy
• Cheating behaviour of dental students and faculty of RV Dental College
• Effectiveness of oral health education program among 12-17 yrs old children of the orphanage-child fund assoc.
• Determination of oral health status & KAP of dental auxiliaries in D.A.P.M.R.V.Dental College

Partnerships and statements of commitments by Trisector partners, champion policy makers and politicians and Heads of Autonomous Institutions:

The institution has been a signatory and principal stakeholder of advocacy efforts which have translated into the following declarations.

• WHO/CAMHADD ’Bangalore Declarations of preventive and Promotive oral health through school health’ (Available in the WHO website)
• Bangalore Declaration of Healthy Workforce adopted during the “CAMHADD/CTPHCF workshop on Workers Health: Action in partnership: Implementation of WHO Global Action on Workers Health”, 17th of December, 2007
• Bangalore Declaration of Health and Human Rights adopted during the Global Consultative Meeting on "The Right to Health: A Fundamental Human Right for Health and Medical Care"  in Preventive and Promotive Health Care for poor low and middle income groups in Urban settings  in February,2010

Social Commitments and Dental Public Outreach Programs
The Department of Public Health Dentistry has a strong dental public health outreach program and through its camps and satellite centres has an ‘oral health care delivery model’ to reach put to the people in the social and rural periphery.

• Total number of camps conducted (1994-2011)- 1039
• Total number of people treated (1994-2011) -3, 05,000
• Satellite centres :
• Ashwini Dental Care –Treated 7,320 patients (2005-2010)
• 'Preventive Cardiology Center' at Shanthinagar, Bangalore, catering to 6000 sanitary workers of the Bangalore city corporation
• Preventive Medicine And Healthy Lifestyle Clinic' at KSRTC medical center, Jayanagar, catering to 16000 employees of KSRTC [Karnataka State Road Transport Organization

Potential areas of partnership: possible research focus areas summary document
The document identifies research focus areas for possible collaborations. Some of these programs have been taken up as part of the institutions 20th year celebrations. We have worked on few of these programs before and seek to enlarge the scope of these initiatives.

• Research Focus Area 1: Title: Changing Trends in reasons for choosing dentistry as a career
  Background:
  Students all over the world are usuallyfaced with the task of career decisionmaking. Research into the motivation and expectations of the emerging workforce is vital to informprofessional and policy decisions. There is a need for such up-to-date data on dentalstudents for: planning purposes (for example, typeand location of career information and support that can be providedfor students); professional retention, and practice location (e.g., toaddress the rural/remote areas shortage) and information on students’ satisfactionwith their courses. Better knowledge of these characteristicswill also provide a base to describe and bettermanage the future dental workforce.
  
  Such initiatives are especially relevant in the context of new and unique challenges in India today like, Rising cost of professional dental education, changing influence of factors like long course duration as compared to other career options and long incubation period before becoming financially independent, diminishing parental influence and increased peer influence in career choice, challenges and difficulty in pursuing post-graduation, impact of globalization with new emergent technologies leading to wide choice of alternate career options sometimes perceived as more glamorous , in various fields including information technology, biotechnology, BPO [business process outsourcing], media, arts and humanities.
  
  Project Summary:
  A pilot study (descriptive cross-sectional, self-administered questionnaire study on students, interns and faculty) was carried out, to assess the changing trends in the reasons, why students seek a career in dentistry in D.A.P.M.R.V Dental College and hospital campus, Bangalore, Karnataka during Dec.2008-May 2009. This is an ongoing and long term institutional initiative with data being collected every year to understand and assess changing trends.
  It is proposed to enlarge the scope of the study to include other dental institutions in Bangalore [16 colleges, yearly intake 1020 students] state of Karnataka [44 colleges, 2970 students] and India [291dental colleges 23690BDS students] in a phased manner
  
  The project data will form the evidence base for advocacy and development of partnerships for policy changes towards university and institutional support mechanisms for the students.
  
  
• Research Focus Area 2: Development of “Trisector Partnership Model” for participation of Civil Society/Private Sector/Health Care Provider Institutions in Oral Health Promoting Schools
  Background:
  The WHO ‘Regional Strategy for Health Promotion in South East Asia’ calls for a multidisciplinary, multi-sectorial settings based intervention to address the  NCD burden which accounts for 75% of the total deaths in a developing country like India. Health Promoting School [HPS] is an upstream, settings based approach, in line with the WHO strategy.
  
  The foundation for the HPS initiative in Bangalore, began in January 2005, with the Adoption of“Bangalore Declaration of School Health” [Available in WHO Website] in the presence of Dr. Petersen, Chief, Oral Health Program, WHO at D A P M RV Dental College and Hospital.This WHO HPS concept has been adapted to local needs, in partnership with the Dental Public Health group, University College London [Dr. Richard Watt and Dr. Aubrey Sheiham]during DrHarikiran’s participation in the Commonwealth Professional Fellowship in 2008 and a collaborative interdepartmental MOU between the two departments.
  
  This initiative seeks to link the health needs of Trisector stake holders with necessary resources, develop partnerships, towards a demonstration HPS programin Bangalore, India with corresponding capacity building measures, thus establishing evidence base in local conditions and to develop an advocacy document/strategy towardsincorporation of HPS as a State policy.
  
  Project summary:
  The project seeks to establish a“HPS Focal Point” in the Department of Public Health Dentistry,to facilitate Tri-sector stakeholder partnership and a consultative process for development of HPS protocol and manual of procedures/guideline documents. The HPS Focal Point will work towards a demonstration project to be implemented in 5 schools in the First Year.
  
  The HPS demonstration initiative will use the following approaches:
  • To improve Health Literacy
  • To establish a referral system at a low/zero cost to patient in order to improve health seeking behavior.
  • To integrate health promotion activities in a phased manner, towards providing a physical, organizational and psychosocial school environment conducive to oral and general health.
  • To assess the oral health status to establish baseline data and  to monitor changes
    
    
• Research Focus Area 3: Title:“Oral HELPER (Health Education, Learning Program Examination and Referral) Initiative.
  Background:
  The WHO ‘Regional Strategy for Health Promotion in South East Asia’ calls for a multidisciplinary, multi-sectorial settings based intervention to address the  NCD burden which accounts for 75% of the total deaths in a developing country like India. Oral HELPERis an upstream, settings based approach, in line with the WHO strategy.
  This program falls in line with the institutional commitment as outlined in the ‘Bangalore Declaration for Oral Health’ [Available in WHO Website], adopted in the presence of Dr. Petersen, Oral Health officer, WHO HQ, Geneva and incorporates the WHO ‘Health Promotion Settings Strategy’.
  
  Summary: The oral helper initiative is a settings based approach which seeks to provide the following in each of the selected institutions.
  • To assess the oral health status to establish baseline data and  to monitor changes
  • To improve Health Literacy
  • To establish a referral system at a low/zero cost to patient in order to improve health seeking behavior.
  Target Population: all educational institutions managed by the parent trust, RSS trust from nursery to higher educational Institution [20 institutions, 2000 faculty members, 20000 students]

• Research Focus Area 4: Title:Dental Public Health Manpower In India: A Situation Analysis
  Background:
  The World Oral Health Report 2003 has revealed a huge dental disease burden and associated unmet dental needs in developing countries like India.1The treatment cost for oral diseases is enormously expensive and it has not been possible for any Government setup to provide dental services to all. The importance of the public health approach to tackle non communicable diseases has been realized by the Government of India with the setting up of the Public Health Foundation of India and Public Health institutes. It is essential to adopt the preventive approach to address the national oral disease burden through the effective utilization of the dental public health manpower in the country.
  
  Dental public health scenario in India:
  Owing to a perceived shortage of Preventive and community dentists in the country provision has been made for specialists of other subjects to be involved in the teaching and evaluation of the subject at the undergraduate level.
  The policies of the DCI should reflect the changing manpower supply and demand. Therefore this study seeks to take up a situational analysis of the dental public health manpower in India, which can serve as a guideline document for dissemination, policy assessment and modification in this regard.
  
  Project Summary:
  This project seeks toconduct a situation analysis of the dental public health manpower in India.
  • Formation of Dental Public Health Manpower Focal Point.
  • Consultative meetings/ advocacy visits to involve Dental Council of India/ University stake holders/ World Health Organization/ Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and Human Resources.
  • Needs assessment consultative workshop of stake holders.
  • Data Collection, Data Synthesis and Report Generation
  • Consultative workshop for dissemination of project report and formation of advocacy strategy/discuss Future implications for policy development.