Dental Week

Happy Dental Week, everyone! This week reminds me of my elementary school days when my mom would send me to school with toothbrushes instead of candy on Halloween and Valentine's Day. I still don't know how I feel about that, haha.
So yesterday we went to the Willowfontein, Pata, Dambuza and Snathing communities with a carload of toothbrushes, apples, bananas, and a dentist from Edendale Hospital. At each of these locations the dentist would talk to the OVCs and their caregivers about oral hygiene and ways to stay healthy by washing your hands, not sharing toothbrushes, etc. while Agnes would translate into Zulu. Everywhere we went she also asked how many of them ate this treat that people sell outside schoolyards [I forgot the name, but it looks like Cheetos]... everywhere they all said yes. Apparently this cheap snack is so bad for you that it creates sore throats, rashes, running noses, and eventually eats away at your stomach-- it is made entirely out of chemicals. Because it is so inexpensive kids eat it all the time! It is sad that people are allowed to sell such a thing, especially outside schools.

After the session every child and caregiver was able to have the dentist give a quick look at their teeth, and if they were in dire need of having an appointment with the dentist they were given a referral to the public hospital where they would be able to see the dentist for free. Then we gave everyone toothbrushes and some fruit. The kids were so happy to have their own toothbrushes!

This will continue on for the rest of the week, but unfortunately I will not be able to tag along because I will be in Richmond doing OVC profile work. I wish I could go-- like I said, it brings me back to my childhood days when I would carry a backpack full of toothbrushes into my classroom and try to convince myself that I didn't look like a nerd. I kind of miss those days.