Smile for Albania

Smile For Albania, a student society of the University of Malta, has been providing humanitarian dental care for students at Preca College and children from state schools in Korce, Albania, since 1994. Their visit last September was the society's eighth annual visit.

The dental team was as usual made up of staff and students from the University's Department of Dental Surgery under Dr Charles Galea, president of Smile for Albania, and Professor John M. Portelli, the Dean.

Student intake at Preca College has increased this scholastic year after the completion of an extension to the College. Preca is run by Maltese teachers from the MUSEUM seconded by the Education Division. The school has an international reputation with students admitted to universities in the US, Italy, Greece and Malta on the strength of their school-leaving certificate, equivalent to International Baccalaureate.

The young patients, aged five to 19, included an unusual number of new ones, not previously attended to, thanks to the higher intake at Preca and an increase in the number of patients making the journey from villages around Korce, made possible by the recent improvement in roads and transport.

The dental clinic operates for 10 hours a day with staff and students working in shifts covering 250 youngsters and providing a total of 327 dental restorations, 27 fissure sealants and preventive resins, three surgical interventions and 23 extractions.

The workload and timeframe allowed for only two cases of root canal therapy and 22 scalings and polishing. Oral hygiene instruction on a one-to-one basis was given to a large number of children and their appreciative parents. Fourth-year dental students are clinically competent to undertake routine dental treatment under supervision.

An epidemiological survey on oral disease conducted in 1994 was followed up by a similar, more limited, survey this year for purposes of establishing trends. The level of oral disease in children is still way above the European average and is in part due to high sugar consumption. A survey of dietary habits was also made and a detailed oral hygiene questionnaire will be completed shortly as part of the Social Sciences programme at Preca.

The Maltese dental students have witnessed great changes in Korce over the past nine years. The economy still depends largely on income from Albanians living abroad who either choose to return for short spells between long working periods or who continue to support their families by providing a regular monthly income. The large number of emigrants to the US, Italy and Greece has increased this income and many improvements one sees may be only superficial. The quality of life, after such a traumatic immediate past, is much improved.

Smile for Albania buys dental equipment thanks to donations and an annual jumble sale organised with the full participation of dental students in all the five years of the course. Preca College also depends on donations; the college receives no state financial aid. For a very small donation made to the MUSEUM you could help educate a young Albanian.

The dental students are grateful to all those who made donations this year, in particular the University's Student Affairs Committee for a Lm150 grant, Colgate (Von Brockdorff Imports) for continuing to supply oral health products for distribution to the patients, and Virtù Ferries for free passages to Sicily. A very big thank you to members of MUSEUM in Korce for sharing their home with the dental students and for all their kindness.