Dentistry Students Promote Sparkle Brush Programme

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UKZN’s Discipline of Dentistry in collaboration with the University of Western Cape (UWC), visited the Westpark School to present the Sparkle Brush Programme on 5 August.

The community engagement programme, which was conceptualised by Dr Magendhree Naidoo, a PhD graduate from UKZN who is now a faculty member at UWC, is directed at school-going learners with special needs in KwaZulu-Natal and the Western Cape. The lessons learned are infused into the undergraduate Dentistry curriculum.

Naidoo was accompanied by her UWC colleagues, the Dean of the Dental Faculty Professor V Yengopal, Head of the Oral Hygiene Department Dr P Brijlal, and academics Mrs R Cader, Ms S Ndwandwe and Mrs S Hassan-Yengopal, as well as Professor Janice Williams a visiting academic from Tennessee State University in the United States. Programme coordinator at UKZN, Mrs Lucy Reddy was joined by the Academic Leader of Dentistry Dr Ilana Moodley, academic staff member Ms Jayne Gangiah, staff from the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Health Mrs Ayesha Mayat and Ms Slindile Ndimande and final-year Oral Hygiene students.

The team was welcomed by learners at the school with special banners that they created for this event.  The school choir performed a heartwarming song entitled, This is me which portrayed learners’ acceptance of who they are rather than how society views them. The UKZN students also presented a song and dance routine to pass on the message of oral health care.

Supervised by UKZN and UWC staff, the students provided oral health education and fluoride treatment for more than 300 learners. Learners were able to visit the Colgate mobile unit to sensitise them to a dental chair and facilitate future dental visits.  Each learner was provided with a toothbrush, toothpaste and cup, sponsored by Colgate, Glaxo Smith Kline and Johnson & Johnson. The t-shirts for the staff and students were sponsored by LHL Engineering and Impact.

The school principal and staff welcomed this initiative and expressed the hope that it will be an ongoing project. The programme will be evaluated for its impact and sustainability and will be expanded to include more special needs schools in the Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal.

A collaborative meeting was also held between academics from UKZN’s Discipline of Dentistry and UWC’s Faculty of Dentistry. Yengopal welcomed the re-introduction of the Oral Hygiene programme at UKZN and highlighted the importance of the oral hygienist and the dental therapist in the prevention and management of common oral diseases in South Africa. The academics agreed to explore future collaboration to share experiences and best practices in the delivery of the Oral Hygiene programmes in the form of mentorship workshops as well as joint research projects, and joint postgraduate supervision of master’s and PhD students. Brijlal offered to draft an MOU to promote such collaboration.

Words Nombuso Dlamini

Photograph: Supplied