Turkish Dentistry Day

The beginning of modern dentistry in Turkey, which has been regularly celebrated since November 22, 1908, the date when negotiations began for the establishment of the "Dentistry School" in the Teachers' Assembly immediately after the establishment of Tıbbıye-i Mülkiye, due to the personal efforts of the Minister of Education, Emrullah Efendi, happy 115th anniversary of our Turkish Dentistry Day.

In Istanbul, in Kadırga, dentistry services that started in a two-story wooden building have now reached a large number with 104 faculties of dentistry that have started education and training and 14 faculties that have not yet started, totaling 118 faculties of dentistry. Our faculty was established as the 74th in our country with the Council of Ministers Decree dated July 3, 2017 and numbered 10549. Approximately 5,000 dentists start their professional lives by graduating every year in our country.

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. While it is a great source of happiness for us to be 5th in the world in health tourism in the field of dentistry and eye, our people have failed in oral and dental care.

The presence of tooth decay in 74% of our society and gum problems in 70% 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 the USA is 572 grams, it is only about 125 grams in our country. While the ideal tooth brushing time is 2 minutes, tooth brushing in our country is finished in a short time like 30 seconds on average.

We are aware that our dentists, especially the Faculties of Dentistry, have duties and responsibilities to improve oral and dental health in our society. We need to make our people conscious about correct and effective tooth brushing and oral care, to make them see oral care as a philosophy of life just like hand and body cleanliness, and to quickly and systematically eliminate tooth and gum problems. Because, factors that spoil oral and dental health also affect body health. It should not be forgotten that gum diseases can negatively affect many systemic conditions, from digestive system disorders, hypertension, diabetes, joint problems to premature birth, especially causing heart and vascular diseases.

We know that we have to raise awareness of our people on this issue not only during the Oral and Dental Health Week we are in, but always, through various social media. As of May 11, 2023, we are ready to fulfill our responsibilities more than enough in this regard as Burdur Mehmet Akif Ersoy University Oral and Dental Health Hospital and Faculty of Dentistry, which we have started to admit patients. With our rapidly strengthening faculty staff, we will introduce dentistry science to our people, and we will do our best to raise public health to higher levels by eliminating the oral and dental health problems of our people in our Oral and Dental Health Hospital. We will work to spread the slogan "Health Starts from the Mouth" to everyone by increasing the awareness of our people on effective oral care issues as a result of various media and social media connections, and oral screenings we aim to start soon in institutions such as schools, dormitories, nursing homes. Because, in addition to increasing risk factors throughout the body, many diseases seen in the body should not be ignored as they show symptoms in the mouth.