Jicheng Children's Dentistry Launches the “True Orange Planet · Public Welfare Project”

VCBeat (WeChat: vcbeat) has learned that on June 20, Jicheng Pediatric Dentistry’s Xinjiangwan branch held the launch event for the “True Orange Planet · Public Welfare Project,” officially announcing that every Jicheng Pediatric Dentistry clinicHalf a day each month, providing free dental care for children with autism.

Ta’er Gai, CEO of Jicheng, stated, “Before addressing the dental issues of children with autism, we must first recognize the real-life challenges and needs faced by these children and their parents. While providing oral healthcare, we aim to help these children better integrate into society through the dental care process, and foster greater societal acceptance of them.”

Evidence shows that children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often struggle to articulate physical discomfort and find it difficult to establish oral hygiene habits, such as brushing their teeth, which frequently leads to severe dental caries. Orange Children’s Dentistry aims to better support these children in receiving preventive and therapeutic dental care, minimizing the distress associated with dental visits and fostering a positive experience. This initiative is driven not merely by project objectives, but by a genuine commitment to making tangible differences for these children and their families.

According to statistics, 1 in every 88 children is diagnosed with autism. For those who truly experience it, any probabilistic event becomes a 100% reality. “When I said, ‘I’m sorry, my child has autism,’ the other person replied, ‘The child is mentally ill; why did you even bring them out!’” “Even the child’s father blamed me, saying that I failed to take proper care of the child, which led to this condition.” Parents of children with autism, when discussing societal acceptance of autism, noted that although the term is widely recognized, there remain many misconceptions about autism among the general public.

Chen Jie, founder of Shanghai Qixiang Children’s Development Center (Xingbao Shangxue), stated that the etiology of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) remains incompletely understood. It may be associated with genetic factors, gene mutations, and neurological dysfunction. In brief, ASD is congenital and not, as many mistakenly believe, caused by insufficient parental care.

Nearly all parents of children with autism have endured an emotional journey that brought them to the brink of collapse. They progress from “denial that their child has this condition,” to “constantly asking, ‘Why my child?’,” to accepting reality and “doing everything in their power to cure their child,” and finally to “simply hoping their child will outlive them.” Having accepted the irreversible nature of their child’s condition, the sole hope for all parents of children with autism is that one day their child will be capable of integrating into the 99% of the general population. Enabling these children to access hospital care represents a crucial step toward their social integration.

“Ten years ago, my child was five years old. Due to childhood autism, he was unable to clearly articulate his toothache, and it was only after a long time that I realized his dental caries had progressed to the point of causing pain. At that time, general anesthesia was not available for treatment. I lay on the dental chair with my child on top of me, while seven doctors held him down. We completed the treatment amidst his heart-wrenching cries and struggles... It was truly difficult.” Teacher Fan from the Qixiang Public Welfare Development Center still vividly recalls the anguish of that experience.

Children with autism often suffer from severe dental problems. Most of them resist brushing their teeth, and parents find it difficult to enforce this routine, making it challenging to establish basic oral hygiene habits. Consequently, many of these children develop dental caries, with some experiencing extensive tooth decay throughout the entire mouth.

Yun Xiaofei, Co-founder and Chief Medical Officer of Jicheng, stated that Jicheng is exploring ways to help children with autism complete their treatment more effectively. Jicheng maintains the same patience as parents, striving to become friends with the children. “We believe that encouraging children to visit the clinic more frequently, engage in more preventive care, and have greater exposure to dentists will undoubtedly reduce the difficulty of treatment.”

Ensuring proper dental care for children to minimize their suffering is the wish of all parents.

“There was once a young patient who visited the Jicheng Tianjin clinic for dental care. Dr. He Jia noticed behavioral abnormalities in the child. After spending considerable time playing with the child, she discreetly asked her assistant to step away and then spoke with the child’s mother. The mother explained helplessly that she had not intended to conceal the information; rather, they had visited another hospital two days earlier, where they were refused treatment after voluntarily disclosing the child’s autism diagnosis. The mother said, ‘I was afraid you might also dislike this child and refuse to take him as a patient.’”

From a medical perspective, Yun Xiaofei believes that passion alone is far from sufficient for providing dental care to children with autism; more learning and exploration are needed. Jicheng has also officially announced the introduction of a classic American pediatric dentistry reference book."Behavior Management in Pediatric Dental Care", Jicheng has been exploring pediatric behavior management, aiming to help children alleviate anxiety and pain during dental visits. These approaches can also be applied to dental care for children with autism, and such explorations will further help Jicheng refine its research on pediatric behavior management.

An increasing number of startups are prioritizing public welfare initiatives from their early stages. However, philanthropy is never a one-off endeavor; it demands sustained commitment. Targa stated that this would be a long-term, company-wide initiative. In fact, the Jicheng Tianjin Clinic has already accumulated three years of experience in providing dental care to children with autism. Throughout this process, both the children with autism and their families, as well as Jicheng’s employees, have benefited significantly. It is a consensus across the entire organization to “be friends with time” and drive these efforts forward continuously.

With the support of Shanghai Qixiang Children’s Development Center (“Star Kids Go to School”), this project has been accepting registrations from children with autism on a rolling basis. Orange Hope aims to continuously optimize its implementation, encouraging more parents of these children to engage in volunteer work, thereby facilitating greater social integration for children with autism and their families.