The coat wearing ceremony organized by Burdur Mehmet Akif Ersoy University (MAKÜ) Faculty of Dentistry was held on November 22, World Dentist's Day.
The ceremony organized by the Faculty of Dentistry, which opened its doors to its first students in the 2021-2022 academic year, was held at Lavanta Tepesi Hotel. Rector Prof. Dr. Adem Korkmaz, Vice Rector Prof. Dr. Durmuş Acar, Dean of the Faculty of Dentistry Prof. Dr. Ali Alp Sağlam, Rector Advisors Assoc. Dr. Ali Murat Alpaslan, Dr. Faculty Member Mustafa Kılınç, General Secretary Ali Nihat Gündüzalp, academics, students and parents of students attended the ceremony.
The first speech at the ceremony was made by the Dean of the Faculty of Dentistry, Prof. Dr. Ali Alp Sağlam. In his speech, Sağlam said; "Happy 113th anniversary of our Dentist's Day, which has been regularly celebrated since November 22, 1908, when the negotiations for the establishment of the 'Dentist School' began in the Teachers' Assembly.
The methods applied in dental treatments in our Turkey and the technological devices used are among the top 10 countries in Europe and the world. We rank 5th in the world in health tourism in the field of teeth and eyes. This is a pleasing event. However, I regret to report that our people have failed in oral and dental care.
The fact that 74% of our society has tooth decay and 70% has gum problems is an unacceptable problem. Because, unfortunately, there is no toothbrush and toothpaste in 60% of the houses. The toothbrush, which needs to be renewed every 3 months, is renewed once every 4 years on average in our country. While the annual toothpaste consumption in Israel is 570 grams, it is only 85 grams in our country. While the ideal tooth brushing time is 2 minutes, in our country, tooth brushing is finished in a short time like 30 seconds.
We are aware that the responsibility for improving oral and dental health in our society falls on the Faculties of Dentistry. We need to make our people aware of correct and effective tooth brushing and oral care, to make them see oral care as a philosophy of life like hand and body cleaning, and to eliminate tooth and gum problems quickly and planned as soon as our clinics become operational.
Starting from the Oral and Dental Health Week we are in, we have started to raise awareness of our people on this issue through various social media platforms. As Burdur Mehmet Akif Ersoy University, we will not only bring science together with our people, but also ensure its implementation, and we will do our best to bring public health to higher levels. We will spread the slogan "Health Starts from the Mouth" to everyone.
Like these white coats you will wear, which are the symbol of cleanliness, purity, selflessness, hard work and medicine, I wish you to do your profession healthily, happily and successfully until your hair turns white, and I present my respects and love" he said.
Then, Rector Prof. Dr. Adem Korkmaz, who spoke later, said in his speech; “We have been waiting for the opening of our Faculty of Dentistry for a long time. Our Faculty of Dentistry is an important unit of our university in the field of health. We have made significant progress in bringing our hospital into service in 2022. Hopefully, we will speed up a little more. Thus, we will become a university with a very strong health infrastructure that suits Burdur and our university. On this occasion, I celebrate the World Dentistry Day of all members today. The wearing of white coats in our program is also a proud situation for us. I can express white as a symbol of purity, honesty, cleanliness and a color looking to the future. Good luck to all of you. Hopefully, it will be our fate to celebrate your graduation. I hope we all see the days when you are all strong individuals in the field of health in our country.” he used the expressions.
After the speeches, the coat wearing ceremony was held. Due to the global pandemic, the students whose names were called put on their own coats one by one.
The students who wore their coats read the Faculty of Dentistry student oath with Dr. Faculty Member Elif Nihan Küçükyıldız. At the ceremony, the students had a great time with music.
