DT News - MEA - Students help teach good oral health in South Africa

King’s College London

Fri. 8 December 2017

save

inal year dental students Karolyn John and Jack McSweeny spent three weeks teaching children about oral health in the villages surrounding Cape Town in South Africa as part of the dental elective programat King’s College London's Dental Institute.

The students helped teach oral health and hygiene on behalf of the Dental Wellness Trust, a charity that aims to promote general dental wellness to less fortunate communities around the world. They joined after-school programmes in small townships with the goal of teaching children the importance of brushing their teeth and washing their hands. The programmes are run by trained volunteers known as “Mamas” but there are never enough volunteers. Karolyn and Jack wanted to help spread messages to more children, and managed to reach out and recruit more volunteers, increasing the classes covered from 4 to 12!
‘’It was extremely challenging logistically to ensure there were enough toothbrushes for everyone. With about 500 children brushing at the same time, monitoring their technique was initially quite a task! However their abundant enthusiasm made the entire operation a thoroughly pleasant experience.” Dental student, Karolyn John

Strategies to advance oral health in Africa

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia/MARRAKESH, Morocco: Oral health in Africa has just received a second boost with the August 2016 launch of the World Health ...

FONA: First commercial training in South Africa

It was with great excitement that FONA conducted the first ever commercial training event in the area, at our new distributor in South Africa, Axim.

Sugar tax reaps benefits in South Africa, study finds

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa: In 2018, South Africa introduced a tax on sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) based on their respective levels of sugar content ...

Good oral health may prevent severe COVID-19 progression

LEIPZIG, Germany: Given that little time has passed since the outbreak of SARS-CoV-2, it comes as no surprise that only sparse data on COVID-19 is available...

African Union for Oral Health to hold first dental congress in Tunisia

Gammarth, Tunisia: Under the theme “Oral health in Africa: The modern dentistry era challenge”, L'Union Africaine Pour la Santé ...

World Oral Health Day: A happy mouth is a happy body

This year, the World Health Organization is bringing smiles to the forefront of global health with their gleaming new campaign: “A happy mouth is a ...

War-driven stress takes a toll on dental students’ mental health

AL-NABEK, Syria: Years of conflict have left deep psychological scars on Syria’s future healthcare workforce. New research among health sciences students ...

World Oral Health Day webinar supports local and global oral health action

Every year on 20 March, the global dental community marks World Oral Health Day (WOHD) in the spirit of improving global oral health and overall well-being....

ChatGPT limited in answering complex oral health questions, study finds

AMMAN, Jordan: As artificial intelligence continues to expand its role in healthcare, large language models such as ChatGPT are increasingly being used to ...

Erythritol functional roles in oral-systemic health

Oral health functionality of Erythritol Mäkinen et al. 2005 demonstrated that in comparison to other sugar alcohols like sorbitol and xylitol, erythritol...

Education

Live webinar
Mon. 13 July 2026
7:30 pm UAE (Dubai)