Help Dental Hygiene Students Make Bolivia Smile!

A New Day Has Dawned in Dental & You are Part of This Dental Innovation:

Our dental care team has launched a new phase of the special protective coating project to prevent tooth loss in the Bolivian tropical village of Villa Tunari  It is now possible to treat older children with a compound which initially discolors a tooth to protect the enamel, but with this new step added the tooth will look white.  This means that more teeth will be saved from further decay.  Many more families have signed on to participate this year.  With the help of your generous donations, we have been able to take a full dental care team, including our star student Shirley.  By the way, Shirley won a prize for the best display and presentation of how to avoid sugary foods and save teeth!

Report from the Field:  Villa Tunari Year Two as Study Results Start Coming In--50 Percent Cavities Arrested!

Dental Hygiene students, staff, and two hygienists from the United States participated in a community service project that is crucial for students to complete before graduation.  We traveled four hours on a treacherous road to Villa Tunari.  This small town is considered to be part of the Bolivian jungle biosphere, and it is an area which can be dreadfully hot and humid.  It was that way on our prior visit, but this time there was plenty of rain to cool us down.

This is our second visit to apply the new fluoride SDF (Silver Diamine fluoride) that although has been around for years, has recently been accepted by the FDA in the U.S.  Smiles Forever is conducting a research project to see how effective the product is for school-age children in rural areas, where there is little access to dental care.  The SDF turns the cavity black when it is arrested. This is not a problem in a baby tooth that will fall out.  However, if it is a permanent tooth, while it stops the cavity, it can be a little unsightly.  Now there is a promising innovation:  the latest research is saying we can cover that black area with a white resin material to look pretty.  No more anesthetic!

In our second application of SDF we showed 49.8% of the cavities arested. This year tooth fairies from Seattle, Elise Tanner RDH and Georgene McCarty RDH, accompanied us on the trip.  These experienced dental hygienists shared their tremendous presentation of how sugar destroys our teeth with large tooth props.  Students and staff had a contest creating their own versions of the presentation.  Shirley, our Smiles Forever student, walked away with the cash prize!

Seattle Donors Join Smiles Forever for a Latin Night with Smiles Auction event featuring a salsa dancer on the evening of Saturday, October 14th at the Queen City Yacht Club.  You and your friends will not wish to miss this gala, back again after a 3-year hiatus.  Smiles Forever has so much to celebrate as we are not only at the forefront of innovative studies like with SDF application to those who need it most, but also as we continue to lead the world by example in bringing critical dental care to indigenous people.