Healing hands Nepal in collaborations with United Smile e.V. from Germany conducted 11 ‘Free dental Clinics’ at
Taudaha in Kathmandu
Dolagiri Secondary School in Changunarayan
Rainas, Chiti and Khudi in Lamjung
Falame Danda in Parbat
The main objectives of these camps were to provide dental disease treatments in school children and to motivate dental health hygiene. But we ended up the checkups on locals beside school children.
It was a program of dental screenings, demonstrating brushing methods and oral hygiene instructions by dentists and distribution of toothbrushes & pastes. We had 4 dentists treating 1320 patients in total in all of these 4 districts. 1 Health assistant to track blood pressure and weight before dentists visit, Healing Hands Nepal Volunteers for interpretation, and local volunteers to manage the crowd.
Around 30% of patients needed immediate treatments. Countless decayed teeth, root remains, fractured teeth, persistent milk teeth remnants were pulled, fissures were sealed, white cement fillings were performed, temporary solutions for gingival problems were given and each set of teeth were fluoridated. All the patients would receive their dental kit post-treatment.
Other evident problems were poor oral maintenance, prolonged sensitivity to hot or cold foods, malformations of teeth due to irregular deciduous dentition, Malocclusion in permanent dentition, chronic periodontitis, etc
Severe cases that could not be attempted on our mobile clinics were referred to regular dentists, for example, Root Canal Treatment, inflamed gums treatment, or orthodontics help.
It was evident that the treatment needs were higher on adults than children. And Many of them had restorations done, like tooth fillings or artificial implants, and they visited for follow-up only.
Clinics at schools usually started with demonstrating brushing methods and counseling on dental health maintenance either of orthodontic or gingival diseases or caries. Children were more curious and happy to receive toothbrushes and toothpastes afterward.
Welcome, and farewell ceremonies by the communities were always heart-touching. Flower garlands, tika, khada, a token of appreciation, handwoven scarves by the Women Weaving Team. And conclusion ceremony at the end of our 15-day Dental trek in Parbat was an extravagant surprise. The Pun Community there prepared a thank-you feast for us and sang their ancestral songs and we all danced to the local tunes.
We chose these districts for our mobile clinics because, Changunarayan village has no dental clinics at all, and people have to descend down to Bhaktapur for any minor or major dental problems. Similarly in Lamjung, there are hardly 15 Dental centers for the population of 200,000 and only 2 of them in Beni Bazar of Parbat District.
Healing Hands Nepal is planning for a Dental tour (mobile dental clinics) throughout the country to address dental problems starting in 2020 with National and International Dentists.