Sub navigation
Oral Health project Gambia
- Gambia team on site
- improvisation: patient treatment on a bench
- dental treatment in the usual setting
People living outside urban areas often have to walk for days to reach the next dentist.
“At first, we did most interventions ourselves.” Dr. A. Rainer Jordan, co-founder and current project coordinator, remembers the early days of the initiative and the spartan conditions. “Patients were treated on simple wooden benches – without electricity or running water. We had no buildings available, so the village square was our dental clinic.”
A specific type of caries treatment with glass ionomer cement, recommended by WHO, fortunately works without electric drills. “But soon we realized that help for self-help is the most important thing, so we started training Gambians in basic dental treatment. Today we focus on complicated cases only which local helpers cannot handle.”
Witten/Herdecke University signed an agreement with the Gambian Ministry of Health in 2008 to continue the successful training of Community Oral Health Workers in the smallest of less densely populated states on the African continent. The first training project started in the new headquarters in the provincial town of Brikama in August 2008. The former supporting point in Jahali was turned over to the local support association. “This is a case where we actually helped them to help themselves. Now it is much easier to reach the newly established dental units in Berending and Darsilami from our new headquarters in Brikama.” Both units are not far from the border to Senegal and therefore also attract patients from Senegal.
So there are currently thirteen dental treatment units in Gambia being established under the auspices of Witten/Herdecke University. One of the reasons to select Brikama as the new headquarters was that a kindergarten project had been started there earlier. Dr. Jordan: “We opted for a kindergarten and a near-by primary school with a total of 2500 children since many studies have shown that an early start in dental care, continuous monitoring and treatment are essential to ensure long-term dental health. Hopefully the positive conditioning will be passed on to families and future generations. This would be a great success for Community Dentistry.”
Contact :
Priv.-Doz. Dr. A. Rainer Jordan