4 minutes ago3 min read

Bridge2Aid - an update on this week's pilot programme - a guest post from Shaenna Loughnane

"Hi all

I thought it would be good to give you a quick update on the programme now that we are nearly half way through.

I will write a full report when we’re back in the UK.

We currently have a team of 10 volunteers working on our new Outreach/Training programme in partnership with The Ministry of Health, The Tanzania Dental Association, THEDI (local NGO) and Colgate Tanzania.

The programme was put together following a meeting with the Chief Dental Officer, asking us to start to utilise volunteers again as he has big plans for the Oral Health in Tanzania but they don’t have enough local trainers to carry out the work.

The main focus of the programme is to train Tanzanian Dental Therapists who work in remote and rural locations, usually on their own with little or no support. The Ministry have asked us to focus on the following key priorities for training:

Root Canal Treatment of single rooted teeth under the guidance of dental x-rays
Incision and drainage of small dental abscesses
Fabrication of partial removable dentures (2 teeth)
Behavioural Management in children
Operation of periodical dental X-rays providing radiological diagnosis
Infection Control Protocols
Oral health education for the prevention of oral diseases

As you can see, a very different programme for us!

After the hands-on training this week, we will be running a 6 month mentoring program for all of the therapists we have trained, which will consist of 1:1 support and group webinars, access to resources etc.

We arrived in Tanzania on Sunday, and went straight to work on Monday morning.

When we arrived, we were told that 700 patients had already registered to be seen in week 1, with around 300 school children to be screened and referred for treatment.

We have 8 chairs in total, with the focus being:

Root Canal
ART
Composites/treatment planning
Dentures
Urgent treatment
Urgent treatment
Urgent treatment
Urgent treatment

At each chair we have 1 or 2 dental therapists and a training dentist. Five of the training dentists are from the UK, and 2 are from Tanzania.

We have 3 fabulous nurses who are supporting the dental teams, and training the therapists in effective infection control.

So far we have been blown away by the planning and management of the THEDI team, the training skills of our dentists and the skills and willingness to learn being demonstrated by the therapists. Dr Chicco has done an awesome job of putting everything together.

You can see a selection of photos so far below and I will be adding to it tomorrow and next week, when another group of volunteers arrive.

We have been visited by the local government officials, other local healthcare professionals, the Tanzanian Dental Association, and the Chief Dental Officer was with us for the first 3 days.

A couple of quotes so far:

A volunteer - “This experience has exceeded my expectations, and Africa will now always be in my heart”
A patient - “Thank you so much - you have given me back my smile, and my confidence. My pain has gone away”
The Chief Dental Officer - “I am not only happy, this has been perfect. When can you come again”
A Dental Therapist - “I am learning so much. My trainer teaches like a father”
District Reproductive and Child Health Coordinator - “When you leave, this work can now be sustainable as you are training"