In order to better promote oral health in our medical/dental clinics, Global Brigades Panama purchased our first Restorative Care Dental Unit in 2013. With the Restorative Care Unit we can provide fillings, which are highly needed and rarely available in our communities. The Dental Unit not only provides additional care for community members, but also it allows students another opportunity to shadow a dentist and see additional procedures. In order to support this extra unit, the group must fundraise an additional supplies contribution of $145 in addition to their other standard contributions. Global Brigades will then provide an additional dentist to run the unit, and the dental station will be able to provide restorative care in the form of fillings as well as extractions and fluoride treatments.
We are excited to announce that our goal for 2014 is to have the dental unit in use every week that there are brigades. Our January brigades have already booked the unit for the entire month!
Due to the fact we currently have just one unit and have many weeks with multiple simultaneous Medical/Dental brigades, unfortunately not every brigade will be able to use the unit. If multiple brigades are set to take place in the same week we will match the unit with a brigade based on the following criteria:
-Groups traveling to Panama with specific Dental Brigades chapters will receive priority for using the unit.
-If there are no Dental Brigades in country, the unit will be matched with a brigade group based on:
- Expressed community need
- Expressed group interest/ability to fundraise for supplies
- Size of brigade group
Another dental goal for 2014 is to fundraise for and purchase additional restorative units for brigades in Panama, so if you feel passionate about bringing this restorative care to more communities, please get in touch with your chapter leaders or advisor to set up a fundraiser!
