My Dental Elective in Uganda...

At the end of BDS Stage 4 I joined SmileStar on their programme to Uganda for my dental elective. SmileStar is a UK based charity which works to provide dental care in rural communities in Africa.

The SmileStar team I was in consisted of 15 clinical and non-clinical support members from across the UK. We worked closely with a local Rotary Club and clinicians based in Tororo.  They provided excellent care and helped the visiting team with translation as required.

We spent 3 days working outside Tororo General Hospital and 2 days at an outreach clinic in Mulanda and Merikit.  We collectively treated 639 patients. Dental extractions, basic restorations, and oral hygiene advice were all offered free of charge. The gratefulness received really gave me an appreciation of how transformative basic dental care can be to an individual.

Although it was not a surprise to me that rural dental care provision was so limited, seeing the situation first hand was challenging. It seemed funding was a key issue as much of the essential equipment was broken and patients were required to supply their own PPE.