Part of our Mobile Clinic routine at MEDLIFE is the dental station, where patients are able to receive dental treatments such as cleanings and extractions. Many of the communities we serve are in very remote areas, so even the simplest tooth cleaning can become complicated if the tools and resources to perform it are not available. Another important station at Mobile Clinics is the toothbrushing station, directed at children. Here, we teach them how to brush their teeth correctly, how to use fluoride, and give them a brand-new toothbrush.
However many adults also come to this station discretely, listening in the back as our student volunteer give toothbrushing lessons to the young ones. This is because many of these adults have never received dental hygiene education and are unaware of the importance of brushing our teeth on a daily basis.
In the past few months, we have heard several stories from patients that have inspired us to take a step further and add a new segment to our educational workshop: dental health.
Stories like Giovanna’s and Selvestrina’s have showed us that the lack of dental education and preventive measures can end in the loss of all of one’s teeth, such as in their cases. Selvestrina and Giovanna went several years without being able to fully smile until MEDLIFE gave them the necessary support. Now it’s time to go further.
Doctor Jorge Vidal accompanied us to our last educational workshop to hold our first presentation about dental health. The workshop was held in the Marco Polo Educational Center in Villa MarÃa del Triunfo. About 80 community members attended to hear presentations on nutrition, domestic violence, diabetes, breast cancer, cervical cancer, and now dental health.
“We have plans to create an area of MEDLIFE specifically for patients who have dental problems, and the first step is holding these dental health presentations at our workshops,” said Carlos Benavides, Director of MEDLIFE Peru.
Jorge Vidal, Orthodontic Doctor, has supported MEDLIFE since the beginning when Jorge was just a dental student. He has seen the growth of this organization and is very proud to have an active role in MEDLIFE’s mission: bringing medicine, education and development to communities in need.
Workshop participants remained very interested throughout the presentation and even took the opportunity to ask questions to Dr. Jorge about preventative dental health. Deemed a success, “this is the first of many workshops,” Benavides said.
At MEDLIFE we are proud to be able to take the extra step and bring more support to people who need it.