Children who have received treatment and mobile dental team in Oyo State, northern Nigeria. A youngster receives dental treatment; in most areas preventative oral hygiene is completely lacking. The children are taught oral hygiene lessons after receiving individual dental care. Children are taught proper dental hygiene.

Africa Smiles
Family Care Association, Lagos, Nigeria

Some would say that there are few things in life more beautiful than an African child when he or she breaks out into a smile.

Family Care Association Nigeria (FCAN) loves it when Africa smiles; thus among their programs they team up with a group of volunteer dentists and dental nurses to conduct mobile dental clinics to make sure that the smiles of several hundred children in the rural areas of Kaduna and Oyo states of northern Nigeria, live up to their true potential.

In these rural areas toothbrushes are rare and the most common form of oral hygiene is the 'chewing stick'; the bark of one end of a young branch of a local tree is stripped so that the fibers of the branch become a brush. Another method used is a mixture of charcoal and the unripe stem of the plantain which is ground together and used to scrub the teeth. Unfortunately in many areas visited the children don’t appear to use either of the above and as a result of such widespread lack of hygiene, their dental care proved quite a challenge.

In Kaduna State; using a health care facility that FCAN helped to establish, this FCF Project reports:

“Scores of procedures, fillings and extractions later, we had rows of cotton-mouthed children who now eyed us very suspiciously, only to be made once again congenial, when we sent them home with a delicious packed meal and other items to devour when able.

“Next stop on our dental tour was a school for the deaf and dumb in Ibadan, Oyo State. The dental procedures were considerably quieter and smoother, with only sometimes frantic sign language being passed between the children and our translators. Dental care here is not seen as a preventive measure but as a last resort if the pain becomes too unbearable. We found many cases that could make the toughest dentist weep.”

"The final stop was a Home for street boys aged between 8 and 18. After finishing the necessary treatments we gave oral hygiene classes, as well as distributed hygiene kits to the children. Even though some took a day or two to recover their smiles, when it reappeared, they discovered that their first encounter with a dentist had been worth it.

“We can happily say that a little bit more of Africa smiles again! “

For more on this multi-faceted work click the following link: FCAN