Presenter: Siani Ford-Barkley, Physiology and Neurobiology, Global Public Health Scholars
For my practicum project, I volunteered with Global Dental Brigades where we went to Panama for a week over winter break to help give out free dental care to communities in need. While we were in Panama, we packaged over 1800 dental care packages that were given out to these communities. We also worked with and shadowed dentists who were providing free dental services such as fillings and extractions. Lastly, we worked together to teach these communities about the importance of proper dental care. This relates to public health because the area of Panama that we traveled to is very rural and one of the poorest areas of Panama. A lot of these communities don’t have access to proper dental care or can’t afford to get the necessary dental work they need. These dental workshops are very helpful in providing these communities with easily accessible dental care. Also, the packages with toothbrushes, toothpaste, and floss that we gave to each community member in some cases might be the only toothbrush they are able to get for the entire year. I chose to do this for my practicum because I am on the pre-dental track and am looking to hopefully go into public health dentistry, so this was the perfect way to dabble in that field. I am so grateful for this experience because not only was I able to shadow Panamanian dentists and learn more about dentistry, I was also able to help a community in need and learn about their traditional culture.