By Alpha Abu
The faces of dozens of Susan’s Bay residents showed relief and satisfaction after going through free dental surgery at the Community Centre on the last day of a humanitarian offer by visiting Spanish dentists under the medical charity Dental Coop and local catholic partners- Caritas Sierra Leone
Madam Seray Conteh- one the beneficiaries of the free dental care told reporters at the centre on Wednesday 21st August that she was extremely happy to have had two extractions that day, saying she was now free from the pain. She thanked the Spanish doctors and Caritas for making the dental services possible. Other beneficiaries expressed similar sentiments.
Programme Manager Caritas, Freetown Ishmael Alfred Charles who is also Acting Executive Director at the organisation told Politico that apart from the dentistry, patients were also given toothbrushes, medicines and also educated on proper oral hygiene.
Charles said because of the lack of electricity at the centre, the doctors were unable to do filling, cleaning or other dental services.
He said despite the challenging working conditions, the medics have ensured proper care was given to the people, citing the three stages of sterilization the dental instruments, provided by catholic partners Don Bosco, have to go through, before use.
He said extracting a tooth today conservatively costs 250 Leones which the predominantly poor residents cannot afford. He said a number of people had multiple extractions for molars and premolars and estimated that the services offered if monetized, could be well over 80 million Leones.
Charles said before the dental treatment, which is the first to be undertaken by the partnership in Sierra Leone, Caritas conducted an assessment last year on the urgent felt-needs of people at Susan’s Bay, which necessitated the dental treatment. He said they intend to carry out a similar exercise again next year. The six-day exercise targeted 319 patients, mostly women and children.
Dental Coop is a medical organisation based in Spain and is focused on providing support to those in need of dental services.
Federico Gerona Del Campo, Elisa M. Moratil, Sara C. Miranda and Cristian C.G. Penetro were the dental surgeons that conducted the free services.
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