An exhibition showing the relationship between dental health and public health in Porto Alegre

To highlight the importance of oral health in the integral health of the individual, the Regional Council of Dentistry of Rio Grande do Sul (CRO-RS) organized an exhibition of the photographic exhibition “Dentistry is not just teeth. And teeth are not just teeth”. The educational campaign aims to explain, through images, that various diseases can arise, be aggravated, or persist due to dental problems. The opening began Monday, at 7 p.m., at the Galeria Clébio Sória, in the Porto Alegre City Council. It is the first external exhibition, and the first will be at the council’s headquarters. This activity was promoted by the Committee on Sports Dentistry at CRO/RS. The exhibition runs until April 29, from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.

The gallery contains 12 icons with 24 images of examples of diseases that may be related to dental problems, such as premature birth, back problems, heart problems, respiratory arrest, thyroid, joints, and others. Dental surgeon and educator at the exhibition, Andre de Oliveira Pokerskis, said the event was set up in the pre-pandemic period with the aim of highlighting the interrelationships between dentistry and health in general. “We have the impression that the dentist works only with the teeth, but he also works with all the relationships of the maxilla, facial growth, deformities, and trauma from accidents, among other things,” he noted.

Bukerskis also emphasized that in addition to these positions, the selection of subjects in various medical disciplines, such as endocrinology, trauma, psychiatry, and neuroscience, highlighted an issue that was growing in Brazil, the fields of work. He stressed that “facial aesthetics is also a serious problem, such as facial deformity, and this knowledge needs to be shared and disseminated on the basis of the scientific literature.”

CRO-RS Counsellor and Treasurer, Joao Gilberto de Sousa, explained that the significance of this event is to show that the cause of some diseases can be associated with dental problems. CRO-RS aims to make the exhibition itinerant and to be in places such as dental schools and health-related public places, such as hospitals and other public places.