Tibet's Lhorong County has recently seen the first stomatology department open and complete the first surgery at the Lhorong County People's Hospital, which was built with the assistance of the medical team sent by the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hospital.
During diagnosis. (Photo provided to GDToday)
Located in the southwestern part of Qamdo City, Lhorong County features complex landforms and treacherous road conditions. There are 11 towns and villages in the county, and it takes over two hours for a round trip from remote townships to the county, and six hours from the county to downtown Qamdo, which is 300 kilometers away.
Cheng Huilin, an attending physician of the stomatology department of Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hospital, is one of the team members. She said local people of all ages have a notable tendency to get oral diseases, such as dental caries (especially for children) and periodontal disease, while the diagnosis and treatment rate is relatively low. Without immediate treatment, dental caries may handicap the children's physical development.
Therefore, Cheng reached out to the hospital in Guangzhou to push to establish the local stomatology department and train local young doctors simultaneously.
On August 11, the stomatology department was officially set up in the Lhorong County People's Hospital. (Photo provided to GDToday)
Just after the department was opened, Cheng, who had just returned to the dormitory from work, received an emergency call saying that an inpatient was suffering from severe dental pain and swelling of the face. Immediately, she called another two young doctors and rushed back to the hospital.
A preliminary diagnosis indicated acute apical periodontitis caused by the patient's troubled lower right first premolar.
To help the patient recover her oral function as soon as possible, she recommended relieving the acute swelling and pain in the individual’s gums and face, and preserving the affected tooth through root canal treatment. With the joint efforts of the three doctors, the treatment went smoothly, and the pain and swelling soon subsided.
Later, Cheng and her team worried that the patient, who lived in a remote township, could not return to the hospital for the follow-up treatment due to the long distance, so they decided to give the patient complete root canal treatment before discharge. It was the first dental surgery since the opening of this stomatology department in the county.
Today, with the help of the medical team of Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hospital, the local hospital can diagnose and treat common dental diseases, including endodontic disease, periodontal disease, oral mucosa disease, and oral and maxillofacial disease.
Author | Teria Wang (intern), Hannah
Editor | Olivia, Steven, Jasmine, James
