Lecturer of the Dentist Education Program of the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences (PSPDG-FKIK) of Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta (UMY), Laelia Dwi Anggraini, formed a Kindergarten for Healthy Dental Care in Jogja City in the context of Dental Prevention Care for Millennial Children. This activity is also part of UMY’s Community Partnership Program (PKM).

Laelia stated the purpose of the activity was to create a kindergarten that cares about dental health.

The activity was participated by 100 kindergarten teachers in the city of Jogja. The activity began with three workshop sessions at the UMY RSGM [Oral and Dental Hospital]. The workshop presented speakers Laelia Dwi Anggraini, Likky Tiara, and Pipiet Kusumastuti.

The first workshop addressed equality of perception for the Indonesian Kindergarten Teachers Association (IGTKI) and the RSGM UMY network representative. The second workshop was about the concept of caring for dental health in kindergarten. The third workshop was for field preparation, followed by a visit to Qotrunnada Kindergarten, Sonosewu.

“Actually there are still other agendas, namely the dissemination of the results of workshops and counseling for representatives of kindergarten teachers throughout Yogyakarta City on March 28, 2020. However, because mass gatherings in UMY and RSGM are currently prohibited, the activities were cancelled. As for the goods and medical devices that have been purchased, they will still be handed over to the kindergarten involved, while all counseling materials have been delivered during the previous workshop, “Laelia said, Wednesday (15/4).

According to Laila, almost all workshop participants expressed concern for dental and oral hygiene, which is still very minimal at kindergarten level. Dentist visits to kindergarten are also relatively rare.

“The ones responsible for the health of kindergarten students are local clinics, but they never visited, even though there should be two visits a year. There is a possibility that this happened because of busy activity at the clinic ,” she said.