Education Bolivia Project #7925

Help Dental Hygiene Students Make Bolivia Smile!

by Smiles Forever

Project Report | Apr 30, 2019
From Pain to Gain: Bolivian Students are Treated

By Sandy Kemper | Smiles Forever Founder and Consultant

Students from UPAL a University in Cochabamba

April SDF Project

Hello Smiles Forever Friends & Supporters!

The Smiles Forever team just completed a project in Villa Tunari, Bolivia in April. For the last three years we have been working on a project with Maria Del Rosario, a primary school in this small village. The project included applying Silver Diamine Fluoride (SDF) to children starting as early as the age 5 and throughout their school years. We have collected data on this group of children for the last three years. We are excited to announce that after this visit, we saw a vast reduction in the presence of new and active dental caries.

The West Foundation has gifted us with a grant that will allow us to continue this project for another 3 years in Villa Tunari. This grant not only guarantees continued care for this group of adolescents, but also allows Smiles Forever to begin a similar tracking & treatment program at another school in the Fall of 2019.

Our team of Bolivian Hygienists and Dentists worked along side hygienists from the United States and dental students from UPAL University for five days applying SDF, extracting broken teeth and providing dental cleanings. We achieved our goal of seeing a reduction in active dental caries. In the Fall we would like to spend our efforts placing plastic composites to cover the existing arrested lesions.

This patient is happy, pain free and able to chew without discomfort after our SDF treatment. The primary tooth that was previously decayed and now arrested will exfoliate and the permanent tooth will erupt and develop normally.

The primary left tooth was at risk of abscess and the permanent tooth below could have been affected by the active caries if not for the SDF intervention. This illustration was included because many of our supporters are dental professionals and need a visual to see precisely how dramatic our place-holder method can be.

Save the Date! Saturday November 9, 2019

Our Smiles Forever Board is planning our annual auction for Saturday November 9, 2019. This event will be at the Queen City Yacht Club in Seattle. Please mark your calendars to celebrate our 19th year with us! Get ready to celebrate Italian style with our 2nd time of doing the delectable Taste of Tuscany theme.

We will be hosting a Live and Silent Auction with entertainment. Small plates, wine, beer and of course, sparkling Italian soda will be served and perhaps the lemon drink of the Isle of Capri!

Thank you for your continued support of Smiles Forever!

If you would like to make a donation to support our efforts at Smiles Forever via GlobalGiving, please click on the link below. We appreciate your generous donations throughout the year.

Your donations help to support this project in Villa Tunari! Your gifts will fund a new project that we will begin at another school in the community.

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