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News. April 2006

The Social and Environmental Partnership Conference was held in April in Nadvoitsy Settlement (Karelia) within the framework of the project “My Pretty Smile”.

This conference became a presentation of the project “My Pretty Smile” that has been launched in this settlement at the Central District Hospital with the active participation of the country’s leading specialists in the sphere or dental disease prevention.

The main session of the Conference was held at the local elementary school hall and was attended by, apart from its organizers – representative of the SUAL-Holding Management Company, Nadvoitsy Aluminum Factory, Sustainable Development Fund, the settlement’s administration, and environmental organizations, including the Karelia Green Association – by community members – parents and employees of the factory.

Professor Kuzmina from the Moscow State Medical and Dentistry University, who is the scientific adviser of the project, made a report at the conference in which she noted that the reason of dental diseases among Nadvoitsy children was poor oral hygiene. This conclusion was based on an integrated examination that was conducted in the settlement in October 2005 by a group of specialists from the Dental Disease Prevention Department at the Moscow State Medical and Dentistry University. When asked how many times teeth should be brushed, the children gave correct answers, but an examination has proved that in reality hardly anyone was following the obvious rules. There was no question of teeth being brushed twice a day, perhaps, twice a week or even twice a month. As a result, by the age of 14, Nadvoitsy children have an average of 3.8 teeth being affected by caries (in Moscow this figure is 3).

The project was joined by Colgate-Palmolive that will donate a set of tooth brushes and dental care products to each child. This well-known company has already provided materials and supplies for opening special dental disease prevention rooms at three local kindergartens and a school. Funds provided by SUAL-Holding were used for sending two health care specialists from Nadvoitsy to be trained in Moscow and for new equipment and consumables for the dental room at the local outpatient clinic.

Two other projects have been launched in Nadvoitsy at the same time with "My Pretty Smile". The project aimed at optimizing energy-efficiency in the settlement’s child care centers and schools by installing heating meters has been practically completed. These activities allowed reducing local budget spending for heating by 1.3 million rubles.