Dental Health Begins at Home

Your oral hygiene is more important than you realise and when you’ve never been taught the importance of brushing your teeth or even owned a toothbrush, it can become detrimental to your health.

Flying for Life enables volunteer dentists and oral hygienists to fly to the Vhembe District, Limpopo to run dental campaigns on a regular basis.

One of our first dental campaigns in 2015 was held on Wednesday 18 March at the Tshikondeni Primary School. Volunteer dentists, Dr Eksteen and Dr Moloi; oral hygienists, Liesel Venter and Itumeleng Juma and Flying for Life’s project manager, Thendo Dama flew into the community early Wednesday morning from Lanseria International airport to the Tshikondeni airstrip.

The team were greeted by 100 school children and they taught them the importance of bushing ones teeth through visual aids and a video. The team assisted the children with teeth brushing techniques and preformed plaque disclosure on each child.

“One child, who had never owned a toothbrush or toothpaste was both nervous and excited to brush his teeth for the first time,” says Dr Moloi.

Through Flying for Life’s relationship with The Department of Health, a van was sent to the Tshikondeni Primary School for the screening to take place.

At the end of the day each child was given a toothbrush, toothpaste, crayons and pictures to colour in.

“Oral hygiene is a very important aspect of maintaining one’s health and needs to start from an early age. This makes our dental campaigns in the Vhembe community very important as we work primarily with the children who then take the information home to their parents,” concludes Thendo Dama, Project Manager.