Bridge to Health: Dentists making a Difference in Uganda
Drs. Izchak Barzilay, Elahe Behrooz, and Courtney David spoke with Dr. Chiraz Guessaier about their recent trip to Uganda within the Bridge to Health program.
Excerpt from the University of Toronto Dentistry Magazine (Summer/Fall 2016):
It was during his second trip to the African nation that Barzilay decided he wanted to do more than extract teeth – he wanted to create a field denture program, shifting the health care priority from straight5 triage to recovery. And he wanted to bring students from the school along to learn and help.
Under this new initiative, the 12-person team made fit thermoplastic dentures each day within a six-hour period, from set up to shut down. And while extractions were still plentiful – the team extracted approximately 1,000 teeth over the duration of the brigade – the team also produced between 60-70 dentures, each piece finished and fitted over the course of a single day. The students, Elahe Behrooz and Courtney David, both IT6 DDS, also prepared about 100 fillings.