Dental treatment

The Need

Only 3.8 per cent of 5-year-old children growing up in Brazil are cavity free. Dental care is so difficult to access that 2.5 million teenagers have never visited the dentist. When there’s barely enough money for food and clean water, parents can’t afford oral hygiene visits for their children—ultimately leading to tooth decay, disease and malnutrition. Oral health is an integral part of a child’s overall health and well-being.

Impoverished children who have never had the chance to visit a dentist in Santo Antonio, Brazil, suffer from chronic pain, making it difficult for them to attend school and their local Compassion centre. Oral disease can mean the difference between a child succeeding in school or dropping out. Bad breath and visible cavities caused by poor dental health can lead to poor self-esteem and social difficulties among adolescents who don’t have the knowledge or tools to practise daily hygiene habits.

Children’s oral health can be effectively monitored and treated through a combination of personal, community and professional action. Prevention begins at home, so we wanted to equip parents and children to take charge of their own health by teaching good eating and brushing habits and providing personal oral hygiene kits. We also wanted to offer the children dental exams, fluoride treatment and restorative procedures like fillings and extractions as needed. Compassion believes that every child deserves dental care so they can enjoy good health and share their smile with the world.

Our Response

Thank you for partnering with our church partner in Santo Antonio, Brazil to enrich both the physical and emotional health of 264 beneficiary children through critical dental education and treatment. Upon receiving your generous gift of funding, the intervention specialist, centre director and pastor met to decide next steps. Right away, the church and Compassion centre mobilized local resources to augment your gift, ensuring the intervention could serve the most children possible.

Parents attended the first meeting to learn how to implement daily oral hygiene habits and to hear about upcoming steps in the intervention process, from dental evaluations to dentist appointments at a clinic for children needing further treatment. Each child was given their own oral hygiene kit including a toothbrush, toothpaste, mouthwash and dental floss, so they could put their new skills into practice at home.

A health care professional from the church volunteered to present hygiene workshops, along with dental evaluations and fluoride applications. Next, we partnered with professionals from a dental clinic to perform more complicated oral health procedures within the budget. Thankfully, the church was able to do even more than the initial plan by offering dental services to the family members of some beneficiaries, too!

Children requiring further dental care were referred to the dental clinic following their initial assessment. In total, the clinic provided 190 dental prophylaxis appointments (to remove plaque and prevent decay and gum disease), 64 dental restorations, eight extractions and three pulpotomies (to restore infected baby teeth).

A big challenge at the beginning was motivating parents to take their children to the dental clinic for their scheduled appointments and treatments. In response to many missed appointments, centre staff supplied cars to pick up children and parents at their homes and drive them to the clinic. It was challenging at times, and some appointments had to be rescheduled to a Saturday for parents working during the week. But for the glory of God, all the boys and girls who needed treatment were attended to! Throughout this intervention, staff thanked God that He was always with them and helped them each step of the way.

Activities

Hygiene training: Girls and boys participated in an educational workshop to learn about dental hygiene, like how to brush their teeth effectively at home. They put their new knowledge into practice with their personal hygiene kits.

Personal hygiene kits: Children and youth were eager to receive their own toothbrush, toothpaste, mouthwash and dental floss to bring home and use each day.

Dentist day: Most children visited a dental clinic for the first time in their lives. Dental treatment included fluoride application, diagnostic exams and corrective treatment for those with cavities or chronic pain.

Your Gift Provides...

Your generous gift restored smiles to 264 children through oral hygiene education and treatment, including:

• Dental treatment and diagnostic exams for 264 children
• Corrective treatments (prophylaxis, restoration, extraction and pulpotomy)
• Oral hygiene kits (toothbrush, toothpaste, mouthwash and dental floss)
• Educational materials and workshops