Oral Health project Myanmar

Due to the floods of 2008, Myanmar (formerly Burma) and the Irrawaddy river have become known world-wide, and also the fact that the military government hesitated to accept help from the West. UW/H student Mathias Benedix visited the country in 2009: “Dental care is almost unknown there, so you can image the state of dental health among the population. Most of them have never seen a dentist.”

The Oral Health Project Myanmar is intended to provide material, financial and practical support to local dentists with a mobile treatment unit. The idea is to offer dental conservation interventions, prevention programs and information specifically for children. At least once per year a team of UW/H dentistry students goes to Myanmar to work on site.

The project was initiated and launched by former UW/H students Constanze Sauer and Georg Kirchner. After cyclone Nargis had killed tens of thousands and made hundreds of thousands homeless, the two students came to a country where support for medical and also dental treatment was urgently required.

One year later the next two students came to Myanmar: Mathias Benedix and Felix Käpernick. Proceeds from a charity event had paid for a mobile treatment unit, and dental companies donated treatment material. Our students came equipped with about 700 toothbrushes and - very important - their hand puppet Crocodile Joe.

In September 2011, after another six months of intensive preparation, numerous phone calls, interviews and e-mails, UW/H students Franziska Schaupp, Karen Kemna, Lea Krueger-Janson and Oskar Bunz went to Myanmar for mostly autonomous dental interventions and preventive measures, the latter being of particular relevance in a development country. Sponsors had provided a second mobile treatment unit, plus filling materials, hygiene articles, polishing and extraction instruments.

The project is supported by Prof. Paing Soe, director of the Myanmar Dentist Association, and the Myanmar Foundation (seat: Munich), and since 2011 is officially recognized by the German Dentist Association, with Prof. Dr. Stefan Zimmer as supervisor at UW/H.

Six schools sponsored by the Myanmar Foundation will be supplied with new toothbrushes and fluoride toothpaste every three months. Over 1,200 children will jointly brush teeth after the midday school meal and thus considerably improve their dental health.

Enjoy the detailed report of the four UW/H students who visited Myanmar in 2011, complete with lots of photos.

Contact:
Mathias Benedix and Felix Käpernick