Overseas outreach

For many years Dentaid The Dental Charity has supported Ugandan dental professionals enabling them to run outreach clinics. These take place in rural and remote locations and also in prisons, schools and other areas where communities have no access to care.

The clinics are delivered by local teams who work with community leaders to mobilize communities and promote the clinics. Our portable dental chairs are used for treatments including extractions, fillings and fluoride varnish application. Often large queues form and people walk or travel many miles to attend.

Oral health education is a key part of our overseas outreach work and the team gives toothbrushing and dental health advice while people wait to be seen.

Ambrose one of our Ugandan associates describes a Dentaid funded outreach clinic:

“The outreach was the first of its kind at the prison. Ndorwa prison is the largest correctional facility located in Kigezi subregion, south west Uganda. Most of the inmates originate from poor households and are accused of offences such as defaulting on loan and debt repayment, civil cases, illegal entry into the country and so forth. The prison hosts a low level health facility without a dental professional. Due to Covid-19 restrictions, they have been issued with a directive from prisons headquarters prohibiting referral of any case outside prison premises Therefore the majority of the inmates that have been waiting in silence, only relieved by pain killers. The majority of inmates presented with chronic dental conditions. The general oral hygiene was poor due to lack of toothpaste and brushes. Some of the inmates had dental abscesses. “I have been relieved from a big burden!” said one of the inmates after treatment. We saw 60 patients – 45 male and 15 female and extracted 40 painful teeth. The outreach was successful and the majority of the inmates were relieved from dental pain.”