Dentaid announces launch of Overseas School Sponsorship Programme

Bright Bites is not Dentaid's only ground breaking initiative currently in progress! In Kabale, south-west Uganda, nearly 5,000 children in six primary schools are taking part in a holistic oral health programme, using a range of innovative products and techniques developed by Dentaid. Children in this part of Uganda face a very different oral health future to children in the UK. With no oral health education, no access to dental professionals or even a daily toothbrushing routine, children can face a life of pain from untreated dental decay.  

One such school is Nyamabare Primary School. Positioned near the Burindi Inpenetrable National Park, this school is set in a mountainous area over 6,000 feet above sea level. Most people in this region are living below the poverty line and poor oral health is one of the most common and painful side-effects of such poverty.

Headteacher Kamuhangire Elton says:- “The children at this school like studying but dental pain is a constant problem. Until we received Dentaid’s help there was nothing we could do. Children regularly missed lessons or attended when they were in severe pain and unable to concentrate. It is difficult for the staff to see children suffering like this and be unable to help.”  

The programme includes free dental screening and appropriate treatment of children, oral health education through specifically designed, locally made and culturally appropriate books and posters, and daily supervised tooth brushing using an innovative Dentaid toothpaste dispenser. If successful, the programme could be replicated in thousands of schools around the world.  

Headteacher Kamuhangire Elton continues:- “We appreciate the work done by Dentaid and their partner charities in treating the rampant toothache of our school children. It has given them a better future to live and study free from dental pain.”    

We want to give U.K. schools the opportunity to change the lives of less fortunate children around the world in a very practical way. From September, 2006 British Schools will be able to sponsor a Dentaid oral health programme in a school like Nyamabare Primary School in Uganda.

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