In 2019, we worked in Pakistan to provide welfare and dental services to refugees and those of low socioeconomic background.

The ‘Healthy Smiles’ project was conducted in schools in Islamabad and Rawalpindi. Local teachers and healthcare workers were trained by our volunteers on delivering regular oral health and diet education. This included a supervised toothbrushing programme which helps to integrate toothbrushing into the  daily routine. 

Dental caries is one of the most prevalent chronic diseases and affects 60-90% of children worldwide. Untreated dental caries has a detrimental effect on a child’s quality of life, growth and development, and can have severe consequences including dental sepsis. We conducted a study to assess the effectiveness of using Silver Diamine Fluoride (SDF) to stop the progression of decay in children’s teeth. This was chosen as the preventive measure due to its ease of application, low cost and high efficacy in arresting decay in community settings with limited resources. 

The study was conducted in collaboration with the Community Denal Health department at the Islamabad Medical and Dental College. 125 children from semi-urban areas received the application of SDF. Tooth decay had stopped progressing in 78% of teeth. 

Access to oral health care is a luxury not every child Pakistan is entitled to. This study showed a high prevalence of caries in children from the areas under study. Numerous factors can be attributed to this finding, one being that the areas under study were semi-urban hence the study population mainly comprising of children from low socioeconomic households.   

In a developing country like Pakistan, SDF can be revolutionary in controlling the progression of decay in vulnerable and underprivileged communities especially children.