The newly Mobile Dental Clinic that was handed over to the Ministry of Health and Medical Services, Solomon Islands, from the Rotary Club of Ballarat West (RCBW) and Dental Health Services Victoria, Australia (DSHV) will boost oral health program for children in Honiara.
The mobile dental clinic is a fully equipped air-conditioned unit that will offer a comprehensive range of dental care services, including fillings, fissure sealants, and X-rays, and features its own sterilization facility. Its future role is expected to introduce a program of painless preventative dentistry, starting with supervised toothbrushing with delicious bubble-gum flavoured fluoride toothpaste in selected primary schools.
Ministry of Health and Medical Services, Permanent Secretary, Mrs. Pauline McNeil acknowledged and thanked the Rotary of Ballarat West for donating the customized dental van (value AUD$450K) purposely retrofitted for the school dental program.
“This is very timely, noting the emphasis that the Ministry of Health places on primary health care, decentralization of health services, and improving accessibility to health care especially for our school aged children. This is truly a game changer for the school oral health services.
“And with the latest donation of the dental van, we can assure you that more school children will be seen and treated. Your kind hearts has enabled the dental department to continue to serve and meet the oral health needs of this country”, said Mrs. McNeil.
Rotary of Ballarat West Representative Dr. David Goldsmith said sweet sugary food is available everywhere in Honiara, and its children have a high incidence of tooth decay. Seventy percent (70%) of children have teeth with decay when they enter primary school. There is not enough money or manpower available to treat this tooth decay problem by dentists. Many children miss school days or struggle to concentrate due to suffering from a toothache.
“The aim is to introduce a program into the Solomon Islands that has been proven to work successfully in Vanuatu, and to address this problem by utilizing the dental van among dentists, nurses, and teachers.
“This dental truck will enable direct access to schools by dental professionals, providing education and prevention services. Each student will be given two toothbrushes – one to be kept in the classroom, where daily brushing will be supervised and recorded by the teacher, and one to be taken home, with brushing supervised by parents and siblings and signed. A special-flavoured fluoride toothpaste will be provided in a pilot program introduced by the dental department at the NRH”, said Dr Goldsmith.
Meanwhile, the dental van is generously supported by an annual grant of $10,000 AUS and a scholarship for two Australian Dental Therapists or Oral Health Educators per year to visit Honiara for the next five years under a Memorandum of Understanding between the Solomon Islands Ministry of Health and DHSV.
The truck has only 3000 km on its odometer and is accessible to disabled patients, and runs economically from a standard domestic power supply.
