FREETOWN — Dental Coop, a Spanish medical and dental organization located in Spain, partnered with Caritas Freetown to provide dental care and education to 319 people in Susan’s Bay and Culvert communities in Freetown, Sierra Leone
Dental healthcare in Sierra Leone is still a major problem, as over 60% of the country’s population has never been to a dentist or had professional dental care, and hundreds of these people have died due to dental-related illnesses.
On August 17 2024, Dental Coop arrived in Sierra Leone in a noble partnership with Caritas Freetown to help residents of Susan’s and Culvert Communities with dental medical services.
According to Ishmeal Alfred Charles, Programs Manager for Caritas Freetown, said “this partnership does not only addresses the immediate dental needs of the community but also empowers residents with knowledge about oral hygiene and preventive care.”
He continued by saying, that citizens in Sierra Leone don’t take dental healthcare seriously, stating the reason is because people lack knowledge about dental hygiene.
Dr Christian Garcia, a dental surgeon said to AYV News that some of the children they worked on for dental care were “due to sweets and soda they eat.”
A total of 319 people benefited from this program, including men, women and children. Amongst those, tens of dozens of them had their tooth extracted for free.
One of the beneficiaries told AYV News she was asked to pay NLE 550 to remove her teeth two weeks ago. She continued by saying “today, I did it for free thanks to Dental Coop and Caritas Freetown”.
In Sierra Leone, the average minimum an individual spends to do dental extraction is Le 250 per tooth.
