Free Dental Health Care for Children in the North of the Island

Since the club was chartered in 1993 we have assisted the schools in our area in many different ways – particularly the primary schools in the small rural communities inland – and we have now a good working relationship with teachers, parents and the Ministry of Education.

The programme started as a pilot project (60 children) in 2003 – 2004 and showed a need for dental health care that was far greater than we anticipated. The average number of cavities per child was very high and often the teeth were badly infected. We also found that there was only one dental chair available for the whole population in the north of the island of which there were 4,000 primary school children, and even that one chair was not fully utilized. (There are of course dentists in private practice for those who can afford it.) The dental health care programme was needed for many reasons:

• Poverty
• No tradition in the homes of dental hygiene and care - you don't spend time and money on teeth; if they give you trouble you pull them out.
• No regular information or prevention programmes in the schools or elsewhere.
• A diet very high in carbohydrates and sugar.
• The Dental Department in the Ministry of Health has very limited resources in staff and equipment.

Based on our experiences from the pilot project the board of RCGI decided to plan and budget for a further development of a dental health care programme.

With assistance from the Rotary Club of Northwick Park, London, UK and the Rotary Club of Tallahassee, Florida we were able to put together a complete portable dental clinic. The Ministry of Health provided the staff - dental therapist and assistant - and our “Rotary Dental Clinic” started servicing the schools in February 2005. This was so successful that the Ministry of Health added a second portable unit and “crew” to our school programme in 2006-2007.

With the two portable dental clinics in the schools on full time and one Health Center based dental clinic on part time the school programmeme was treating more than 2000 children during the school year from 2006 to 2008. The school programmeme offers two sessions of dental health information, one session of demonstration of correct dental hygiene procedures (with student kits of toothbrush and toothpaste donated by Colgate), one session of assessment, cleaning and Fluoride treatment (sealant when needed) followed by treatment – fillings or extractions – when needed.

This year our "Rotary Dental Clinic" - after running continuously for three years and visiting five schools - is unfortunately showing increasing signs of "wear and tear" causing frequent interruptions in treatment and we are looking for assistance to replace it. If this is a project you would be interested in sharing with us please contact us for further information.