After providing first class dental care to Grenadian children and adults for three years, the Grenada School based Dental Project “Smile Grenada” will come to an end on Friday.
Over the past week, teams of dentists and dental auxiliaries from Grenada and the United States, were busy conducting a mop-up of the project by visiting participating schools throughout the tri-island state.
According to Grenadian health authorities, the project had brought a range of benefits including tooth examination, filling, fluoridation and varnishing to more than 22,000 Grenadian children and in excess of 3000 adults.
Government dental services providers and teachers have also recorded an notable increase in the practice of regular dental hygiene among the nation’s students which is attributed to the successful implementation of the projects.
“The main objective of the project was to encourage and raise awareness of the importance of dental hygiene and looking back at the program three years later it can be said that we met our objective”, explained Dr. Jerome Keens-Douglas, Senior Dental Surgeon in the Ministry of Health and Social Security.
“Smile Grenada”, was a joint initiative of the Ministry of Health and Social Security and New York University College of Dentistry with support from the Ministry of Education, Henry Schein Cares, Global Student Outreach Program, Colgate, the Grenada Dental Association and Parent Teachers Associations of various schools.
On Thursday evening the Ministry of Health and Social Security will present awards and tokens to some of the participants at an appreciation and award ceremony which will be held at a prestigious hotel in the south of the island.
