Dental Treatment and Prevention Efforts for Orphans

True to the childcare policy of the Workers’ Party of Korea, the Ryugyong Dental Hospital conducts medical activities on a regular basis for the orphans at Pyongyang Baby Home, Pyongyang Orphanage and Pyongyang Primary School for Orphans.

“The Korean people have long regarded it as one of five blessings to have healthy teeth. In order to protect and manage such valuable teeth, it is very important to acquire the right dental care habit from childhood and to receive timely and accurate treatment,” said Ri Hye Suk, head of the paediatric dentistry department of the hospital.

Medical workers at the department found out and treated caries-prone children in good time through detailed examinations, and fluoridized their teeth to prevent caries. They also informed teachers of correct tooth-brushing methods and latest pediatric dental knowledge.

The orthodontic department has conducted examinations of orphans at Pyongyang Primary School for Orphans and made strenuous efforts to find out children in need of treatment and cure them.

Pae Jae Son, head of the department, and other medical workers identified over 40 orphans with severe dysarthria due to shortened lingual frenulum, and cured them with surgical procedures.

They also succeeded in treating cosmetic, masticatory and pronunciation disorders in a few months by using an orthodontic appliance developed by their own efforts and technology, which is of great help in early treatment of progenia, a mandibular protrusion supposedly difficult to treat in three to four years and needed to be combined with surgical treatment.