A mobile dental clinic aimed at promoting oral health is being launched next week. Nikolai Attard and Gabriella Gatt from the Faculty of Dental Surgery at the University of Malta tell Stephanie Fsadni about the importance of raising awareness among all sectors of society, especially the most vulnerable.

A mobile dental clinic aimed at promoting oral health is being launched on Tuesday by the Faculty of Dental Surgery at the University of Malta, in collaboration with the University of Malta Research Trust (RIDT).

On Mondays, this mobile clinic will be visiting mainly schools. However, it is also the intention to extend these visits to various localities, associations and day care centres to reach out to a broad spectrum of the population.

While offering advice and screening, the clinic will also be carrying out a national survey on oral health. This survey is ongoing and is being carried out in collaboration with the Dental Public Health Unit, Superintendence of Public Health.

“Tooth erosion is on the rise and if we don’t break the cycle, it’s going to increase,” says Nikolai Attard, the Dean of the Faculty of Dental Surgery at the University of Malta, who conceived the idea of the mobile dental clinic about two years ago.

Recent studies carried out among children and the elderly reveal the lack of dental care among the Maltese.

“We know that one-third of three-year-olds show signs of decay,” points out Attard. “Fifty per cent of this age group consumes soft drinks and 27 per cent of them do so on a daily basis. This shall have a bearing on their future dentition.”

He describes oral health in residential homes as being “very poor”.

“Poor oral health leads to a poorer quality of life as evidenced by our research,” he says, referring to a geriatric study conducted by the Faculty of Dental Surgery in 2013.

Paediatric dentist Gabriella Gatt, who worked closely on the project with Attard, says that the main aim of the mobile dental clinic is education.

“We aim to reach out to the population and educate them on good oral health practices. We want to reach out to, among others, those people who may not know they need care and immobile people, who for various reasons, are homebound. This could also include blind people,” she says.

The mobile dental clinic is set up exactly as a normal dental clinic, with all the equipment required for day-to-day operations such as the chair, stool and delivery system. The lighting has been slightly modified to reflect the lighting used in scientific surveys.

Tooth erosion is on the rise and if we don’t break the cycle, it’s going to increase

Students attending all the dental courses at University – dental hygiene, dental surgery, dental technology and dental surgery assistance (the latter course is opening for the first time in Malta in October) – will be participating actively on the mobile unit as part of their academic duties.

Under the supervision of academic staff, they will be screening people and offering advice for free. They would also be able to deal with emergencies, if the need arises, but that is not the scope of the mobile dental clinic.

Attard stresses that their aim is “in no way to encroach on the work of general dental practitioners but to raise awareness on oral health”.

Their advice would be to visit a dentist, be it at the University of Malta Dental Teaching Clinic, the public health services or a private practioner.

Gatt says that the students will not only be looking at decay.

“The mouth is a window to our overall health. It could show signs of poorly-controlled metabolic diseases and eating disorders, among others. We would also be looking at pre-cancerous lesions.”

The mobile dental clinic will be visiting schools and various localities to promote good oral health practices.

Meanwhile, they will be recording all the information for the National Oral Health Survey, which is looking at different age groups: three-year-olds, eight-year-olds, 12-year-olds, 15-year-olds, 18-year-olds, the 35- to 44-year-olds, the 65+ and the elderly.

The lighting of the mobile dental clinic has been slightly modified to reflect the lighting used in scientific surveys.

The data collected will be standardised, so that international researchers would be able compare their own data as well as extract conclusions from the local research.

“This is a two-way sharing of research and will contribute to scientific advancement. It will also allow us to actively participate on international projects as well as plan out our future needs as may arise from international organisations such as the WHO,” says Attard.

Once the study results are out, the professor aims to put it to good use.

“We want to conduct research that counts, research that actively promotes an improvement in peoples’ health and ultimately quality of life.”

The opening of a Geriatric Dental Teaching Unit project at St Vincent de Paul home for the elderly last June was in fact an offshoot of the geriatric study conducted by the Faculty of Dental Surgery.

“The Maltese population is ageing, so it is very important to address this sector of society,” says Attard.

The dentistry students can now be taken to a geriatric residence and practise what they learn at University.

Gatt believes both the students and the public gain a lot from such initiatives.

“The mobile dental clinic will provide students with a good opportunity to experience first hand the community’s needs. This would give their training an added dimension, making their studies more interesting and give them more experience.

“So in future, we would have more experienced health professionals in the field of dentistry.”

She adds that their participation could also help inculcate in them the concept of cooperating voluntarily.

“So it’s a win-win situation for the population and the students. The students will get more out of their training and the community will get more out of them.”

GlaxoSmithKline (Malta) Ltd (GSK) and Cherubino Ltd are the main sponsors of the mobile dental clinic. Other sponsors include Suratek Ltd, Bart Enterprises, the Good Causes Fund, Prohealth Ltd, Express Group and Rahuma International Ltd.