News

King Khalid University (KKU), represented by the College of Dentistry, in collaboration with the Saudi Orthodontic Society, last Thursday, conducted an awareness campaign designed to educate the members of the community about orthodontics. The campaign was titled "Orthodontics is more than a smile." It took place in Al Waha Complex Center, and it lasted for three days. In attendance at the campaign was His Excellency, Prof. Dr Khalid Al Jalaban - the Vice President for Health Specialties at King Khalid University. Other dignitaries at the occasion included the Dean of the Faculty of Dentistry of the University, Dr. Ibrahim Al Shahrani, as well as a member of the board of the Saudi Society of Orthodontics, Dr. Basma Al Maghloth.

The aim of the campaign is to clarify the meaning of Orthodontics as many members of the society believe that it is for cosmetic purposes; the truth is that it combines both the treatment - which is the primary goal - and cosmetic, targeting all ages and both sexes.

The campaign witnessed a high attendance of males and females during its two sessions. The attendance exceeded 500 persons over the three days. The both sections - for men and women - included educational corners for orthodontics, represented in the corner of early checkup, which aims at educating the members of the community about the right time for a child to visit the orthodontist, the risks resulting from the loss of primary teeth early, and from the loss of the permanent teeth, which causes the accumulation of teeth and the jostling of each other. Another corner was that of the bad habits, which aims to educate parents about some of the bad habits in children that affect the tooth order, and the way to stop such habits; either by encouraging the child, or by some of the devices that the orthodontist put for the child. There was also the corner of limited orthodontic treatment, where members of the community were educated about all cases that cannot be treated by the orthodontic; hence the patient should be subjected to surgery for treatment. There was also the corner for the risk of orthodontic. Also this corner aims at educating the members of the community about the risks that may result from the treatment of orthodontic in the case of negligence from the patient, and the lack of concern for the cleanliness of the mouth and teeth during orthodontic treatment. Another corner was that of oral health, through which members of the community were educated about the correct way of brushing teeth during putting the orthodontic, and taking care of oral hygiene during the treatment period. The last, but not the least was the consult your doctor corner. This corner was set to answer questions and queries of visitors by doctors of orthodontic, and the franchise doctors, and physicians.
The campaign included a special corner for children which received more than 600 children. It's aim was to combine both benefit and pleasure, where the children were taught the correct way of brushing the teeth.