IMPROVE CHILDREN'S DENTAL HEALTH

Children's dental health plays a critical role in their overall health and well-being and requires attention starting at an early age and routinely throughout their lives. Yet adequate dental care for children is woefully lacking in many parts of the world. In fact, 90 percent of the cavities in children in third world countries go untreated, an unfortunate fact that sets the stage for future, more serious dental problems for these children.

Lack of or inadequate dental care for children can have an especially detrimental effect on their physical and emotional health. Untreated cavities, misaligned teeth, abscesses, gum disease, and other dental problems, for example, can directly impact children's ability to eat and/or properly digest their food and assimilate nutrients. These limitations then can lead to a negative effect on children's growth and development, their immune system, and their overall chance of survival.

Despite the good intentions of many third world countries to address the issue of children's dental health, the fact is that 75 percent of them do not have the funds to support essential medical and dental services for children. Therefore it is often left to volunteers – dentists, dental hygienists and assistants, dental students, as well as concerned lay individuals – to help make sure these children not only receive adequate dental care, but also learn how to care for their teeth themselves.

Progress is being made in places like Katmandu, southern India, central Vietnam, and in villages near the Tibetan border, for example, where for several years volunteers have held dental clinics in schools and orphanages or operated mobile dental facilities. Both dental professionals and general volunteers have helped improve children's dental health by providing examinations, x-rays, teeth cleaning, extractions and restoration, and toothbrush instruction for more than 10,000 boys and girls.

You do not have to be a dentist or other dental health professional to help provide essential dental care for children, although such individuals are in great demand. Here are some volunteer vacation opportunities for you to consider:

• The American Dental Association is looking for volunteer dentists to work in Vietnam, Cambodia, Nicaragua, St. Lucia, and India. Opportunities range from 1 to 4 weeks, and some provide room and board.
• Global Humanitarian Expeditions has ongoing dental projects in Nepal that involve both stationary and mobile dental clinics. You don't need to be a dental professional to volunteer. Projects usually last 2 to 3 weeks.
• MEDICO (Medical, Eye, and Dental International Care Organization) provides free dental care to children in Honduras. Dentists and other dental professionals are always needed, while lay volunteers can assist dentists, scrub instruments, and perform other helpful tasks.
• Amazon-Africa Aid works along with the nonprofit group Fundacao Esperanca to provide dental services in Brazil. Volunteer dentists are needed to work alongside local dentists and hygienists.
• The Christian Dental Society has opportunities in Belarus, China, Haiti, Jamaica, and the Philippines for dental professionals and nonprofessionals. Projects last 1 to 3 weeks.

Improving children's dental health offers many rewards: the satisfaction of knowing you have helped improve the overall health and well-being of children who can now bite and chew properly and without discomfort, to being the recipient of the smiles of boys and girls who have just learned how to use their first toothbrush. Smiles are contagious; you can help spread them.