Its mission is to provide affordable and quality oral healthcare for all. I have seen from close quarters while working as a consultant with a Charitable Hospital in the rural sector, the day to day hardships borne by the poor people in receiving quality dental care treatment. The most accessible and Principal healthcare provision facilities for rural India, Primary Health Centers (PHC) do not pro
vide Dental Services and only 20-25% of Community Health Centers, the point of secondary healthcare for rural villages within the Indian Healthcare System, provides Dental Care. In Rural India, the dentist to population ratio is as high as 1 Dentist for every 250,000 residents whereas in Urban India the ratio is I Dentist per 10,000 population. This vast striking imbalance seen of the Dental Professionals not working in the rural areas acts as a major barrier for the rural people to access quality dental care. Another major factor that acts as a Barrier is the high cost of dental treatment. The poor and underprivileged sections of people in the rural areas thus cannot access the Private Dental Clinics in the nearby towns because of the high costs involved. Thus they are left with no option but to avail the services of the Quacks (Unqualified Professionals) because of the low costs. There are about 100,000 Quacks who are providing crude dental care in the rural parts of India. Thus the villagers often end up with serious consequences to their Oral Health at the hands of these Quacks. It has been established that Rural India is experiencing wide-spread challenges in oral health. It can be further said that these challenges exist at every level of the healthcare infrastructure, from a lack of dissemination about preventative oral health education to severely restricted access to curative dental treatments. Thus this Project plans by the opening of Rural Dental Centres in the villages across India aims to:
a. Increase awareness of the importance of Oral Health. Improve access to Dental Services in Rural India under the supervision of a qualified dental surgeon and supporting staff. It is to this section of society that the Global Oral Health Foundation Society ( GOHFS ) would like to target and thus bring smiles back on their face.
