– Dental clinic with a dentist in Auroville Health Centre
– 10 sub-centres surrounding Auroville:

• Dental training for the local village women to become Dental Health Workers (or reinforcing their skills) through a Universal Method *.
  
• Education about oral health.
  
• Dental check-ups for school children in priority.
  
• Manual scalings.
  
• Small fillings using only hand instruments (ART "Technique"**).
  
• Transport by van the referred patients who need more complex treatment by the dentist in Auroville Health Centre - as there are no bus facilities in the rural areas - ensuring also the follow-ups.
  

Educating on oral hygiene prevents dental caries.
Providing basic care at the beginning avoids complicated and costly treatment unaffordable and / or unreachable to most of the rural population!

We want the best teeth in our villages as an example for the rest of rural India
where there are no dental facilities!

What is essential is to continue to raise the level of health awareness and to combine prevention with curative treatment amongst the rural population, with their active participation, to achieve our goal of "Caries-free children" within 5 years.

Our model of work and organization in disadvantaged rural areas presently works well and can be duplicated in rural areas elsewhere in India, enabling a drastic reduction in health needs and costs.

identified with 3 fundamental keys to accelerate the self-skill acquisition:

• Zero Concept: the Concept of Zero comes from India 2000 years ago but its application in dentistry is new.
  The Zero (Ø) is a universally accepted basic reference.
  Zero (Ø) represents symbolically Health.
  Ø Health is the goal or absence of need of care.
  
  
• Proprioception which is the feel of positions and movements within the body eyes closed.
  It is common to all human beings and optimizes the use of the body of the performer for best accuracy.
  
  
• Global terms which are universal for precise and easy communication to avoid regional descriptive terms :
  - break linguistic barriers,
  - short the time reaction of brain,
  - less risk of errors.

For more detail on Zero Concept and global communication please visit :
Global Network: http://www.systematiccare.net : http://www.designbyfeel.com

** "ART Technique"
Promoted by the WHO in 90 developing countries, this painless and simple manual technique is also at the disposal of non-professionals, even in the most basic conditions with no electricity and no running water.
They remove early caries with no drilling and fill them with a glass ionomer cement which glues to the cavity and releases fluoride - a substance known to stop further decaying process.
Stopping early caries will avoid more costly dental care in a clinic - unaffordable to most of the poor populations - as well as the related health problems due to a lack of hygiene and malnutrition.

A full detailed project report will be sent to you on request. Meanwhile you are welcome to visit us.

Thanking you very heartily for your support and participation to this unique experience within the emerging universal township!

The Executives of the Auroville Dental Centre and project holders of this rural dental programme are:

• Dr. Jacques Verré, a voluntary French Dental Surgeon living in Auroville since 1981.
  
• Ms. H.Suryagandhi, a voluntary Indian Multipurpose Health Nurse living in Auroville since 1986.
  
  They work along with 2 Dental Surgeons, 2 assistants and 12 local village women trained as Dental Health Workers.

Voluntary Dental Surgeons participating regularely at our programme:

Our team