In February 2012, then dental surgery assistant Louise Bambrick travelled to Uganda to support the Dentaid aid project. Uganda is in desperate need of medical support from abroad – aid is required in terms of dental awareness in particular. Louise Bambrick and her colleagues spent three weeks imparting their specialist knowledge to the local populace, with a particular focus on the rural regions. The families who live there far away from civilisation and even further away from adequate medical treatment have neither toothbrushes nor toothpaste. Dental treatment is virtually non-existant – there are simply too few dentists in Uganda for that. A quick comparison illustrates this deficit clearly: In the United Kingdom, there are about 28 dentists per 10,000 inhabitants. In Uganda, the ratio is about 0.5 dentists per 10,000 inhabitants. You don’t need to be a dentist to know the effect this has: visiting dentists are shocked time and time again by the poor condition of the teeth they encounter.
New opportunities as a dental hygienist
In 2017, Louise Bambrick returned to Uganda to help the project for another 11 weeks in total, this time as a dental hygienist. This allowed her to extract teeth, place fillings and treat teeth with fluoride preparations when treating children. In addition, she was able to educate teachers and parents on possible preventative measures for avoiding the most commonly occurring oral issues.
Distribution of toothbrushes and toothpaste
Of course, Louise Bambrick didn’t do all that on her own. She was part of a team comprising two dentists, three dental hygienists, two dental surgery assistants and two volunteers who had travelled to Uganda to support the project. There were nine ports of call on their itinerary including a number of schools and orphanages, with the ultimate goal of relieving all of the children and the adults too of their pain. In total, they treated 2,110 patients. Each of the patients received a toothbrush and toothpaste as well as intensive training in oral hygiene. The teeth of 1,108 were treated with donated VOCO Profluorid Varnish. The dentists were delighted by this donation as the product contributes significantly to the prevention of caries.
Louise Bambrick plans to travel to Uganda every year in the future and support the aid project with her expertise and skills.