It is with very deep sense of pride and humbleness that I address you as the President of Indian Society of Pediatric & Preventive Dentistry (ISPPD).

Over the years ISPPD has grown tremendously under the able leadership. My vision for ISPPD will give emphasis on few priorities.

The first being collaboration.

Let us break professional silos & create genuine teamwork among health care providers including obstretricians, paediatricians, us pedodontists & community health workers, as maternal oral health can influence the child’s future oral health trajectory & a pregnant woman should not have to navigate separate systems for her oral & general health.

We should move towards a model in which screening becomes a routine component of antenatal care with appropriate counselling, referral & treatment. Evidence based dental procedures should be under taken during pregnancy with appropriate precautions.

Let us integerate oral health into routine antinatal, postnatal & early- childhood health care.

Another important issue is research.

Our research priorties should be driven by national & regional needs, particularly by evidence gaps that can translate into policy & practice. We should not conduct research simply to add another publication to the literature. Our research should ultimately answer a question: What problem are we solving? For whom? And how will the findings improve oral-health outcomes? Instead of doing research- waste in the name of thesis.

Another important area that deserves our attention is comprehensive management of children with multiple oral – health problems.

We should increase the availablity & exposure to GA cases, so that a child with multiple treatment needs can receive comprehensive care rather than fragmented interventions. At the same time, these cases provide an excellent opportunity for training interns & post graduates in comprehensive diagnosis, treatment planning & multidisciplinary management. As educators & health care professionals, our responsibility is not only to treat patients but also to prepare the next generation of clinicians to deliver holistic, evidence based care. By increasing exposure to comprehensive cases during indergraduate & internship training, we can bridge the gap between academic learning & real- world clinical practice.

We should also ensure greater representation of North -East India in our CDE programmes, conventions, conferences and research collaborations.

The region has its own unique healthcare needs & challenges & we must create more opportunities for clinicians, academicians & young researchers from North – East to participate, present their work & take leadership roles. Our professional platforms should become more inclusive & accessible, ensuring that knowledge & opportunities are not concentrated in a few regions. True national progress in oral health care will come only when every region, including the North – East , has an equal voice in education, research & policy development.

The way forward is therefore clear:

Screen early, educate continuously, treat appropriately, refer effectively, research responsibly & collaborate across disciplines.

Let it become a call for action.