Mending Minds With Sparkling Smiles. A Day Spent With Children Having Down Syndrome
What crosses your mind when you hear the word mentally retarded? Tell me Honestly. Do you think that a mentally retarded person is unable to function properly in his life? That they can't make any proepr decisions or do nothing in life? Well, people who aren't educated about mental retardedness usually have this misconception in mind, even I had that ages ago before I got into association with the medical field.
In actual there's nothing like this. The brain of a mentally retarded functions a lot different than us, that doesn't mean they are not humans or that they're somehow lower than us. They're the same as any other person out there.
One of the most common mental retardation is the Down Syndrome. Each year at least 6,000 babies are born with down syndrome. It is congenital. That means it isn't acquired but is with a person since birth. A baby is born with down syndrome. It happens when our Chromosome Number 21 messes up and instead of having two genes, the babies get 3 genes. This messes up with the whole body. They have stunted growth, mental retardation, low life expectancy, abnormal teeth, and other different things.
As a dentist, it is of my utmost priority to counsel and help these patients in maintaining their oral health. One of the most unfortunate thing that happens in pur country and a lot of other underdeveloped countries is that people like these are ignored completely. They do not get admission in normal schools and there aren't much other facilities for them as well. It's unfortunate to be honest.
Anyway, there's this institution nearby to my hospital which provides schooling to the down syndromic kids. We decided to visit that place and play our part in helping these kids with their oral hygiene.
A DAY WITH KIDS HAVING DOWN SYNDROME
The first thing was to get in touch with the head of the institution. She was very cooperative and granted us permission a couple of days before we had intended to set our camp on. After that, it was important to set all the necessary arrangements in this institution for the feasibility of the kids. So we went there a few hours before the session and set up all the chairs tables etc.
ARRIVAL OF KIDS
After everything was setup we made the welcome call and all the kids started pouring in. They were of all ages, all in different in classes, having different aims in life. It was so wonderful to have a little chit chat session with them. There was this girl, who was so excited in shoaing me her newly painted nail polish. A kid who wanted to be a cricketer in future. A kid who wanted to act in movies. Having talking to them, I realized that if we put enough attention on kids like these, there'll be no difference between us and them. They're very similar to us. No wait, not similar to us. We have cunningness in pur nature. We want to do things that benefit us, and these kids were so pure, so innocent, they couldn't even think of anything but goodness.
AWARENESS SESSION
The first thing was to make sure that the kids get the basic knowledge of oral hygiene. We had made very simple presentations on good food nas bad food. Good oral health. Brushing techniques. Flossing techniques. How important it is to visit the dentist regularly and what are the dos and donts of maintaining a good oral hygiene. The awareness session was a huge success as all the kids were immersed in our talks. Even the dean of our department made a guest appearance and took part in it.
DENTAL CHECKUP
Then came the most important part. That is the dental checkups. This was very challenging for us as dentists. The kids weren't as complying as other people. There are two reasons for that. First being they're kids. We have different courses in which we are taught on how to deal with children in the clinic. The firat step is to make them comfortable. Remove all the instruments that can scare them away. Provide a good child friendly ambience. Engage in light conversation with them. But here we had another challenge, ie, these kids had a syndrome. So we had to proceed very cautiously. In the end it was a success. We managed all the teeth and the oral mucosa of all the children individually.
FACE PAINTING
Since the children were so well behaved with their checkups they surely deserved to get rewarded. For that we handed them goodie bags and also provided them the service of face painting. The kids loved it.
After the face painting we bid them farewell, packed up our stuff and headed back. This experience was life changing for a lot of. The aspiration these kids portrayed stunned us. One of the girls was already working on becoming a fashion designer. Can you imagine? It was so wholesome.
If you have read upto this point, please leave me an upvote, reblog the post and let me know your thoughts in the comments section.
WHO IS HUZAIFANAVEED?
huzaifanaveed hails from Pakistan, who is an aspiring dentist, studying in one of the top notch universities of Pakistan, Jinnah Sindh Medical University.
he loves interacting with new people, making new friends and traveling the world, but most importantly he loves to make a change in this world through his actions and his words. He's an entrepreneur and a philanthropist who's been actively working with different Charitable Organizations in Pakistan.
His goal on Hive is similar, ie, to make a difference. He's here to mark his presence and he'll do it through his words. So lets be a part of his journey and show him support through comments, upvotes and reblogs.
