UWC mobile dental clinic gets an upgrade

The University of the Western Cape is hoping its new mobile dental clinic will help to improve dental hygiene in poor communities.

The community outreach project offers free dental services, and the new mobile unit, which replaces one that had been running for more than 40 years, cost around R3 million. It was officially introduced to the public on Monday November 7.

An American multinational contributed R1 million, the Rotary Club of Waterfront and Dental Wellness Foundation contributed just under R1 million, and UWC contributed the balance, R1 million, according to Professor Rob Barrie, a community dentistry specialist at UWC's dentistry faculty.

The new clinic has three dental chairs and a high-tech intra-oral camera that will be linked to the faculty of dentistry so that images can be sent to colleagues there for advice.

Dentistry students joining the mobile clinic will also receive clinical training.

“We have students who need patients to practice on, and we have a community that needs someone to provide them with a service. Wherever we go our students are learning and our patients are benefiting,” said Professor Barrie.

“One such patient comes to mind - she didn’t know what a filling was but agreed that we could fill her badly decayed front teeth. When we gave her a mirror to see what we had done, tears of joy ran down her cheeks. This is what makes it worthwhile spending my Saturdays working.”

The dental clinic has a driver, a dental assistant and one dentist.

Students provide the service and treat patients under supervision of the dentist. The mobile clinic also provides dental services for Bottelary Primary School, Stellenbosch, each Tuesday.

Weekend outreach clinics have been held in Hout Bay, Fisantekraal and Prince Alfred Hamlet this year and similar programmes are planned for 2023.

The new mobile clinic tackled its first outing in Hout Bay on Saturday October 22.

UWC rector and vice-chancellor Professor Tyrone Pretorius thanked the donors for playing their part in the clinic’s upgrade.

“Your gift will make an immeasurable difference to the lower- and middle-income communities in the Western Cape for whom dental care and treatments are too expensive,” he said.