ATSU-ASDOH students provide oral care in Tanzania
Posted: September 5, 2012
For 10 days in July, Arizona School of Dentistry & Oral Health (ATSU-ASDOH) students provided oral healthcare for special needs children at the Mwereni Integrated School for the Blind in Moshi, Tanzania, a town which sits near Mt. Kilimanjaro. Many of the children have albinism or an inherited skin condition, xeroderma pigmentosa , which can lead to early skin and oral cancers and a shorter life span.
ATSU-ASDOH D3 students, Sarah Usher, Nadia Fazel and Erin Aying, and D4 students Abrahim Caroci and Nipa Patel treated seventy-five children, some orphans, who are boarded at the school. “For most of these children, ranging in age from 5 to 18, it was the first time they had ever seen a dentist,” said ATSU-ASDOH adjunct faculty member Abbas Fazel, DDS who accompanied students on the trip.
Most of the dental work provided by the students involved fillings and extractions. Dental fluorosis from exposure to high concentrations of fluoride during tooth development is an oral health problem in the region.
The ATSU-ASDOH trip was carried out in partnership with K2 Adventures Foundation which had set up a medical and dental clinic at the school. K2 Adventures Foundation’s mission is to care for children, adults and families with special needs and or life-changing medical circumstances by providing services, support and funds that will be used for educational and medical enrichment.
“It was an enriching experience that touched our hearts much more than we could ever touch them with a toothbrush,” said Sarah Usher, D3.