I’m excited to announce the successful completion of my service project, “Salud Dental Princeton en Honduras,” which was organized with the mission of providing essential dental care to El Playón, Comayagua, Honduras. From June 30th to July 24th, this initiative aimed to deliver preventative dental care to a remote community, strongly emphasizing educating children about the importance of proper dental hygiene.
We conducted four educational sessions on proper hygiene practices, nutrition, and basic tooth anatomy, reaching a total of 178 students across El Playón and the neighboring community named Las Minitas.
Timeline:
The project began June 30th and ended July 24th lasting 4 weeks including travel. Weeks 1-2 involved intensive preparation for the brigade in the capital of Tegucigalpa. This involved coordinating with our partner organization on logistics such as travel, preparing the brochure for the educational talks, and purchasing all the materials.
July 16th was a day of travel to the target village so on July 17th I could speak with community leaders and students to announce when the educational talks will take place. On July 18th, I gave three educational talks: 2 to Las Minitas by two different grade groups 1-3 and then 4-5, and then one large talk in the school in El Playon. The talks highlighted the importance of good dental hygiene practices to prevent caries.
On the Brigade day (July 30th), I functioned as a dental assistant and helped to apply fluoride to children, a preventative material against caries lesions. On this day we also had an important educational session that required the participation of both children and parents. Educational material was acquired via Asociación Estomatológica Hondureña’s partnership with Colgate. By July 24th, all toothbrushes and toothpastes had reached the target communities.
On July 30th, the brigade administered fluoride treatments to 54 children to prevent cavities and offered dental services (vía sponsorship of Asociación Estomatológica Hondureña ) to 59 adults, including extractions and consultations for denture prosthetics. Every participant–adults and children–received a new toothbrush and toothpaste to reinforce the importance of daily oral care. A total of 300 pairs of toothpastes and brushes were acquired to hand out.
This project was made possible thanks to the generous support of the Princeton Class of 1978 Fund, which covered all preventative care aspects. I am also grateful to the Asociación Estomatológica Hondureña and their partnership with Colgate for their crucial role in delivering the services and material.
I also extend my gratitude to the community members who facilitated the use of the Pablo Zelaya Sierra School, making these services accessible to everyone in the community. I cannot go without acknowledging my heartfelt thanks to my family in Honduras for their support and connections that made this initiative a reality.
This project marks the beginning of a commitment to advancing preventative oral care on a global scale. I look forward to future opportunities to make a positive impact and foster healthier smiles around the world!
Thank you Princeton Class of 1978 for helping this become a reality. I trust that our efforts in the project have made a lasting impact on people in the community. They were left with priceless information on taking care of their oral health and the children were taught to dream big. Knowing that one little girl now aspires to be a dentist when she grows up made the trip worth it.