MCW Leads Capacity-Building Dental Outreach Training Program For Dental Therapists In Tanzania

MCW (Miracle Corners of the World), a non-profit organization that empowers youth to be positive agents of change in their communities, led a dental outreach team in Tanzania of twelve dental therapy school students from the Mbeya Dental Therapy Training School in August 2015.  

The dental outreach, which took place in Mbeya, Tanzania, was supported by contributions in kind from Henry Schein Cares and Colgate Palmolive.  The goal was to provide the dental therapy students a key training opportunity in community oral health and included visiting three primary schools in Mbeya city to provide oral health education, fluoride varnish, and screening to more than 1,000 children with follow-up emergency treatment to more than 300 of those screened.  The outreach was supervised by four local Tanzanian dentists.

Dr. Ibrahim Kasambala, Principal of the Mbeya Dental School, stated, "It was a successful outreach as pupils in the reached schools benefited from the services, and second year students of Mbeya Dental School got an important opportunity to practice School Dental Services (SDS) as part of the requirements to be fulfilled in the curriculum. In addition, third year students extended their expertise and gained more experience through a treatment program conducted at the Dental School clinic."

The outreach marks MCW's continuing efforts to build the capacity of the dental therapy schools through practical training of dental therapists in setting up community-based dental outreach programs. The schools produce the primary oral health workforce population in Tanzania.

"The role of dental therapist schools in outreach programs cannot be underestimated, and all efforts should be made to ensure that this is achieved," said Professor Emil Kikwilu, former MUHAS Dean, and now an MCW Oral Health Care Committee Member. "This is because for many years to come, dental therapists shall remain the backbone of oral health care in Tanzania."

Since 2001, MCW has addressed Tanzania's need for improving oral health care through its dental outreach program, directly affecting the lives of more than 10,000 children and youth. MCW's Oral Healthcare program seeks to achieve lasting oral health improvement inTanzania through three core activities: infrastructure upgrade, capacity building and dental outreaches.

Source: http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/mcw-leads-capacity-building-dental-outreach-training-program-for-dental-therapists-in-tanzania-300159038.html

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