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June 2009 | Modern Hygienist Smiles in the sand Assessing the dental needs of people in Afghanistan—and how you can help. What wonderful lives we live, with all the opportunities that our professional training allows us. We help people live better lives, improve their health, and in the process we have the opportunity to enrich our own lives with all of the best that society has to offer. You have worked hard to attain your professional skills, and now you can enjoy the comforts and advantages that come with the package. How lucky we are to have the opportunity to help our fellow man. We can use our skills to help people, and we can improve our own lives as a result. Our technical skills are developed to the highest levels in the world, and the treatment we provide is the most sophisticated. How very satisfying it is to be a part of this wonderful profession. How wonderful to have the skills needed to help other people. What more could you ask for? but in other parts of the world… Take a break from thinking about root planing, furcation involvement, infra-bony defects and recall systems, to consider a land where you would not be able to get your teeth cleaned professionally at all. This is a land where each dentist is responsible for 200,000 patients, and, as a result, most teeth are not even cleaned. Got a little calculus to scale off? Forget it, there are fewer dentists in this whole nation than in your small town. If you did manage to get an appointment, the dental office would have no running water or public electricity, and the dentist would not wash his hands (or his instruments) before seeing you. He would have no receptionist, no assistant, no autoclave. He would not even have the instruments to clean your teeth. He could not even x-ray your teeth, as only one dental x-ray machine exists in the entire country. There have never been dental hygienists in this country. The average age of the population is 14 years, and 42 years is a life-span. There are three million orphans, 10% of the population. The capitol city has four million residents but no public water or electricity. Nearly 70% of the population is malnourished, the highest percentage in the entire world. More babies die at birth than in any other nation. Four out of five children believe that life is not worth living. Only 20% of the citizens can read and write. Unemployment is the rule, and those with a job are very fortunate. Half the buildings in the capitol city have been destroyed by war, and are still used for housing and business. Getting clean water is such a problem that epidemics of typhoid fever, cholera, and hepatitis B are common. Most children cannot attend school because they have to work. This is the nation of Afghanistan, beset by 30 years of war and poverty. Invaded by the Soviet Union three decades ago, the Afghan people defeated the Soviets but paid a high price. Abandoned by the world, they still have received basically no aid in rebuilding their infrastructure. But a new program from a California non-profit organization is trying to change that. CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE
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