DT News - UK - Interview: “The absence of even simple dental services can greatly affect a child’s future life”

Anne Faulmann, DTI

Wed. 29 April 2015

save

Today, millions of disadvantaged children worldwide suffer from untreated dental diseases and tooth decay. For most of them, there is no possibility of receiving much-needed dental care and living a pain-free life. The Global Child Dental Fund (GCDFund), a UK-based charitable organisation, is aiming to help these children by ensuring that those from the most deprived communities around the world have access to dental care and do not suffer from obvious dental decay in their lifetime. Dental Tribune Online had the opportunity to talk to Prof. Raman Bedi, Chairman of the GCDFund, about the charity’s mission, current projects and the importance of social responsibility in the dental profession.

Dental Tribune Online: Prof. Bedi, has oral health care for disadvantaged children become a more pressing issue today owing to the increasing number of conflicts and people living in poverty all around the world?
Prof. Raman Bedi: Poor oral health is an issue that is always in the background of world conflict, widespread disease and poverty. As these problems compound, oral health is often pushed off the agenda. As a result there is often little provision of oral health care in disadvantaged areas of the world.
The issue is often overlooked in the greater picture. It is little known outside the dental profession that 3.9 billion people are affected by dental problems worldwide, with caries having a massive global prevalence of 35 per cent and affecting 60–90 per cent of school-aged children.
The fact that many oral health problems can be largely prevented makes the provision of dental care a significant issue, because if we act now to prevent these problems in disadvantaged children, then future generations can grow up free of pain and able to flourish to their full potential.

Why is it so important that children have access to dental care, especially in deprived communities, and what are the most urgent problems?
In deprived communities, when children have pain from toothache and no means of seeking relief, they find it very difficult to eat properly, concentrate at school and socialise with other children. Ultimately, they will fail to thrive and develop fully. The absence of even simple dental services can greatly affect a child’s future life and diminishes his or her chance of being the best he or she can be.

When and why was GCDFund established, and what are the aims and the central mission of the organisation?
The GCDFund was established in 2008 to build on the achievements of its predecessor, the Global Child Dental Health Taskforce. The fund’s core missions are to develop Senior Dental Leaders worldwide through a leadership conference held annually by King’s College London and Harvard School of Dental Medicine; to support our Smiles and Hopes projects for disadvantaged children globally; and to promote social responsibility in the dental profession, highlighting that professionals have a set of far-reaching skills that can help disadvantaged communities around the world.

GCDFund works globally. What kind of international partners do you have, and what work do you do together? How important is networking in your field of work, especially in relation to carrying out projects all over the world?
We have a network of supporters ranging from our Senior Dental Leaders alumni network—which is growing every year—through to our sponsors, co-funders and partner non-governmental associations, and to the people on the ground in all the countries we are involved in, working tirelessly to realise our vision.
Networking and building relationships are absolutely essential to working internationally. It is the people carrying out the day-to-day work in our projects that truly understand the culture and local community, and can help us to deliver oral health care that will be most effective in the local context. Without these relationships, our mission would not be possible. Our Senior Dental Leaders alumni is also a great network keen to share ideas and devise new ways of improving oral health worldwide.

What exactly do you do to improve the oral health of disadvantaged children, and could you tell us about some recent developments in one of your ongoing projects?
The scope of our projects ranges from building oral health capacity by training and supplying provisions to local workforces, to oral health promotion among mothers and schoolchildren, and moreover prevention programmes that deliver long-term protection against dental caries.
Our SEAL CAMBODIA project involves many partner organisations working together with the shared aim of fissure sealing 60,000 teeth in 6- to 7-year-old schoolchildren in a three-year period. To date, 40,000 children have had their first molars fissure sealed in Cambodia. This is a great feat, as Cambodia’s children exhibit alarmingly high levels of dental caries.

embedImagecenter("Imagecenter_1_1744",1744, "large");

According to GCDFund, social responsibility should be the fundamental ethical framework of the dental profession. How have you sought to increase social responsibility among dentists?
Living in an increasingly globalised world, helping disadvantaged communities on the other side of the planet is no longer an unseen responsibility that belongs to someone else.
Developing a sense of social responsibility in the dental profession is crucial; we are aiming to raise awareness of the positive long-term impact professionals can make in either their own community or communities many miles from their own. We have established partnerships with organisations, particularly the International Federation of Dental Hygienists, to encourage social responsibility through prizes and competitions. Expanding social responsibility is something we are aiming to do this year.

What can people who want to support your organisation do? Are there opportunities to volunteer or donate?
Donations go the furthest in helping us. This year, we are focusing on raising funds for a school dental clinic in a very deprived area of the Philippines. Any donations would be gratefully accepted. You can follow our progress on www.gcdfund.org and sign up as a friend on our mailing list.

To post a reply please login or register

Interview: “Tooth discolorations can have a psychosocial effect on the patient’s life”

Until recently, performing a tooth whitening procedure on British dental patients under the age of 18 was illegal. However, recent changes in the position ...

Dental phobia greatly affects patient’s oral health and quality of life

LONDON, UK: One in three adults in the UK are estimated to have a persistent fear of going to the dentist. The fact that the phobia can lead to more active ...

Interview: What will the future of dentistry look like?

For Dr Victoria Sampson, the connection between oral and systemic health is of central concern when dealing with her dental patients. She employs biomarkers...

The future of dental simulation

Oratomic4D is a technology company based in Sydney in Australia specialising in 3D-printing technology and developing and manufacturing biomimetic dental ...

Interview: Concerted action can lead us towards a cavity-free future

It is a curious truth of modern dentistry that, despite growing awareness of the importance of oral health, the prevalence of dental caries remains at an ...

Greening the dental practice: Simple eco changes every practice can adopt

Dental practices are not particularly green. According to the Eco Dentistry Organisation, clinics generate 4.8 million lead foils, 28 million litres of ...

Effect of COVID-19 on dental professionals in the UK

COVID-19 has had a significant impact on our professional life, yet the aftermath of the pandemic and its consequences for our future are still unclear. ...

The dental state of the nation: A GDC report

The General Dental Council (GDC) has released their annual registration report, providing a snapshot of the number of registered dentists and dental care ...

The “good life” of learning

It would be hard to find two more disparate figures in history than physicist Albert Einstein and American Civil War general Robert E. Lee—who has been ...