Walk for a perfect smile held in New Town

It was a walk with a difference as participants who took a round of City Square in New Town on a Sunday morning had no agenda except to promote a beautiful smile.

The Indian Prosthodontic Society (IPS), West Bengal branch, had organised Smile Walk, a dental health and public awareness initiative. The event was inaugurated by cricketer and minister of state for youth services and sports, Manoj Tiwari.

IPS is a society of dental professionals who are prosthodontists by speciality. Prosthodontists are specialists in restoration and rehabilitation of missing oral and maxillofacial structures.

The celebration of their golden jubilee year was graced by the presence of several renowned people from various fields, such as singer Usha Uthup, Odissi dance exponent Sharmila Biswas and secretary, department of health and family welfare, N.S. Nigam.

Biswas, in her inaugural speech, said: “Only human beings can smile because of their facial muscles which other animals don’t have in the same way. So this organisation is doing important work by keeping the rare gift of smile intact among us, human beings."

Tiwari said: “I have been in the field of cricket for a long time but I have never heard of prosthodontists or their function before today. Knowing about the society now, I feel very happy with and proud of the work that they are doing. Creating awareness is one of the most important things that we need to do in today’s time.”

Soon after the felicitation of the guests and the opening speeches, the audience and IPS members, along with Biswas and Tiwari, lit a torch and started the Smile Walk, around the City Square. On completion of a lap, they all gathered in front of the stage where a band with bagpipes and drums started playing and filled the atmosphere with melody.

It was then followed by cultural programmes like dance and music which was accompanied by a free dental check-up session going on the side.

Over 300 children from nearby schools had come for the free check- ups.

Dr Abhyutthan Sinha, life member and a review board member for the journal of the IPS West Bengal branch, said: “The target of the event was to spread the awareness for prosthodontists all across West Bengal and for general oral hygiene awareness as well. The most common issue in children is poor oral hygiene leading to dental caries. Usually on a normal day, maximum of our patients come as a response mostly to pain. People also come for cosmetic issues but pain is always first.”

He further advised, “Brushing in up and down wave-like motions on every surface of the teeth twice daily with one round of full mouth dental flossing once before sleeping should keep dental problems at bay.”

People, he added, should be aware that there were many advancements in the field of restoration and rehabilitation of dental, oral and facial structures and should visit their nearest prosthodontist for a thorough check-up.”

Dr Uday Vir Gandhi, chairperson and founder-president of IPS, West Bengal branch, compared the functioning of IPS with the Duare Sarkar initiative of the West Bengal government. He described the event as a “Duare Daktar (doctor)” initiative as IPS aimed to carry dental health and awareness to people’s doorsteps.