Something to Smile About

Casa de la Amistad tries to support its children in many ways. A big part of the day is structured around educational support and didactic learning. They also try to fill everyone’s bellies with good food. Regular meetings with psychologists help them work through some of the traumas and emotional issues they are dealing with. Daily devotions aim at building up their spiritual health and giving them hope. And of course, we want the kids to be physically healthy. One aspect of our physical health we don’t often think of first is our dental health. For many of the families we work with, the thinking is “if baby teeth fall out why do we need to care for them?” This leaves many of these children with painful cavities, rotting teeth and without the hygiene habits to keep their adult teeth healthy.

This year we have established a partnership with a local university's faculty of dentistry who have agreed to provide free dental care to the kids at Casa. These dentistry students went over and above to make our kids feel comfortable while they had their teeth cleaned and cavities filled. The kids were ushered into a room full of dentist chairs completely decked out with stuffed animals, toys, and books! After a tutorial on how to properly brush their teeth, they showed the kids how the different tools worked so that they would feel comfortable and even excited about their dentist visit. Since its so common to be afraid of the dentist, it was impressive how well the kids did in the chairs. The students did a great job and even had the kids giggling and laughing while their cavities were being filled.

Partnerships like this one with the dentistry department help keep our programs sustainable and our costs down. But more importantly they help make the Casa part of a community; that's something to smile about :)