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Department of Public Health Dentistry, JSS Dental College and Hospital organized a guest lecture titled “Decoding School Oral Health Program” on 25th July 2019. The inaugural ceremony was chaired by Dr. PA Kushalappa, Director, Academic, JSS Academy of Higher Education and Research. Dr. P A Kushalappa, expressed the need for developing innovative public health programs that will benefit the society during his opening remarks in the inaugural ceremony. Dr. Chandrashekar BR, Professor and HOD highlighted the lack of organized oral health care delivery in India and the rationale for organizing this guest lecture while delivering the welcome address. Dr. Ravindra S, Principal, JSS Dental College and Hospital and Dr. Pattanna Shetty, Former Professor, Conservative Dentistry and Endodontics attended inaugural ceremony as guests of honor.

The guest lecture was delivered by Dr. Jitendra Ariga, Director, School Oral Health Program, Ministry of Health, Kuwait. It was attended by teaching staff, PG students and interns of JSS Dental College and Hospital. Dr. Jitendra Ariga highlighted on how they developed the school oral program as a model project over a period of time which is being considered for implementation by neighboring countries today. He presented the key aspects of developing a project, its implementation, monitoring, data recording and evaluation. While delivering the lecture, he stressed on the employment opportunities created by their program which can be adopted in Indian context. He explained the process of selection and training for new graduates from India and other countries for any such programs. Dr. Jitendra also interacted with faculty and PG students of Public Health Dentistry following the guest lecture. He highlighted the importance of private public partnership for making the programs sustainable. The clarifications sought by faculty for developing such programs for Mysore region were addressed by him. Overall, the guest lecture and interactions with PG students, staff and interns was useful in getting first hand information from a person who has developed and successfully implemented a model school oral health program.