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Dental Project

In Tanzania, there is approximately 1 dentist for every 140,000 people. By comparison, in Canada there are approximately 33 dentists for every 3,000 people.   There is a significant need for dentists and dental professionals in Tanzania.

In the Fall of 2015, Ken, Nancy and Dr. Jeff Hackett, a dentist from Victoria, BC, travelled to Tanzania to visit the dental clinic at Dodoma Christian Medical Centre (DCMC) in Dodoma, Tanzania.  They also visited two other rural dental clinics.

 

The purpose of the trip was to explore the state of dental care in the country and to give Dr. Hackett the opportunity to volunteer at the dental clinic at DCMC. While there, they heard many stories of people suffering from chronic dental pain, impeding their sleep and general ability to function and work.

 

For example, a young  boy told Ken that he would listen to his mother cry herself to sleep every night because of dental pain. 

 

Another example was when a young woman came into the Dodoma dental clinic with her baby who was teething to get some advice. She was receiving family pressure to follow the traditional custom of relieving the baby’s crying by slitting it’s gums and pulling the baby teeth out! Thankfully, because she came to the clinic, the dentist there was able to instruct her on how to properly care for a teething baby.

 

Our starting point for our dental project is to begin teaching hygiene and basic dental care.  If the people are not educated in this area, then we continue to just deal with symptoms and general pain.

Our goals

 

1. Set up mobile hygiene and dentistry units to travel into the rural areas of Tanzania to educate the people in basic dental hygiene and care.  The units would also be set up to treat minor dental issues.

 

2. In the meantime, we would work on building a dental clinic in Ifakara, which would mimic the dental clinic at DCMC. This would act as a referral clinic for more complex dental care.

 

3. By 2018, our goal is to create a Dental Therapist School (2 year program) and Hygienist program.

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