Who?
The Tabasamu team is comprised of dental professionals and non-professionals. Dentists and dental assistants will provide professional dental care at a clinic in Kitale. Lay volunteers will be deployed to remote villages to provide oral hygiene education and preventative care.
Why?
The average Kenyan suffers from extremely poor oral health, which adversely affects them in many ways. Dental hygiene and dental education are topics that get very little attention in western Kenya.
This is due, in no small part, to the fact that Kenya suffers from a lack of dental professionals, with only one dentist for every 60,000 Kenyans. Kitale, Kenya is no different. With a population of over 300,000, Kitale has only 3 dentists, and for most Kenyans any dental care is prohibitively expensive. Knowledge of available dental resources is poor and dental services most often accessed are emergent (e.g., treatment for infections and
extractions) rather than preventative (e.g., cleanings, fluoride treatment and education). Kenya needs quality, affordable dental care. Tabasamu will provide a service that most of the population
would not be able to afford even if the country had more dentists. The objective of Tabasamu is to:
- Provide American-style professional dental treatment to at least 150 people in need.
- Support local professional treatment for at least another 300 people.
- Educate another 1,000 people on good oral hygiene and preventative techniques.
