Dr. Steven Gutter

This past week we sponsored a lecture by Dr. Steven Gutter (center)(http://www.stevegutter.com/) as part of the 1st International Periodontists Conference here in Cochabamba Bolivia. Dr. Gutter’s presentation was entitled “Perio-Hygiene for the 21st Century”. It was well attended, especially at the morning session where we had well over 100 students, professionals, and professors in attendance. Dr. Vani Salazar did an excellent job translating Dr. Gutter’s presentation for the audience, and a couple of our students did a fine job of running the welcome table. We thank Dr. Gutter and Michelle Amiel (dental hygienist and representative for Oxyfresh, far left) for an excellent job well done. More pictures below.

Alani Kalfayan, RN Family Nurse Practitioner Graduate Student

When I first started nursing school, Sandy approached me asking if I would help her add nursing curriculum to her dental hygiene program in Bolivia.

“No way,” I thought, “I barely know the difference between an IV and a needle. And why would a dental hygienist need nursing skills?”

Not nine months later, I’m sitting in an early-90’s passenger van for eight, packed to the brim with more than 15 people bouncing over the rock-lined “road” to Carmen Pampa, Bolivia. I was still skeptical of our mission to combine the career pathways of nursing and dental hygiene into one role to better serve the rural communities in Bolivia, and nervous about what we would find once we got there. The research I had conducted for my Master’s in Nursing at Seattle University had made clear the difficulty that rural healthcare workers had reaching their patients, acquiring supplies, and having the necessary skills to treat acute patients when no other practitioners existed. But, it wasn’t until I stood next to a nurse that served the 13 surrounding rural communities of Carmen Pampa and really listened to her stories that I realized that Sandy’s seemingly-lofty mission, would fill a real, fundamental need for these people.

Imagine never having seen a toothbrush before.

When we handed toothbrushes to the people we met living in the rural communities of Bolivia, we handed them their first toothbrush and their first step toward preventative medicine. As Americans, we grow up complaining about brushing twice a day and about visiting the dentist for our annual teeth cleaning, but what many of us don’t realize is that cleaning our teeth prevents disease. In 2000, the American Surgeon General released a report, The National Call to Action to Promote Oral Health, outlining the importance of changing perceptions surrounding the connection between oral health and overall health. The report provided state-of-the-science evidence about the “associations between chronic oral infections and diabetes, osteoporosis, heart and lung conditions, and certain adverse pregnancy outcomes” (U.S Department of Health and Human Services, 2000).

Together, Sandy and I, a dental hygienist and a nurse, are working to bridge the gap between nursing and dental hygiene to provide preventative healthcare to the people of Bolivia. We’ve created a partnership with a five-year nursing program at the Universidad Academica Campesina – Carmen Pampa, in Bolivia, and they are excited to send their first nursing student to Smiles Forever in June 2011 for dental hygiene skills training. We hope this partnership will help to create a new degree pathway that will produce a holistically trained practitioner to better serve the rural communities in Bolivia.

Ultimately, Sandy and I hope to ensure that when the thousands of Bolivians living a two-day drive high in the Andes are reached by a nurse, they will receive holistic care from head to toe – and, for the first time, be taught how to use a toothbrush to prevent disease.

Reference: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2003). Oral Health in America: A Report of the Surgeon General (NIH Publication No. 03-5303). Rockville, MD: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research, National Institutes of Health.

Global Giving and Smiles Forever

Here is your chance to  put http://www.smilesforever.org/ permanently on the Global Giving Internet map!  Smiles Forever has been accepted to participate in the April challenge.

We must have a least 50 different donors and raise $4000.00 by April 30, 11:59 P.M. Eastern Standard Time. By meeting this challenge Smiles Forever will earn the

opportunity to be on this worldwide website!!! Just click on the link or go to www.globalgiving.org/7925 and choose the donate button you will have the option to donate by

credit  card, paypal, or check.  (Remember this is also tax deductible)


Help us spread the word by choosing to share with a friend via facebook or email. The options are endless. Help  indigenous young

women in Bolivia empower themselves through education and give back to their community.

US Volunteers / Community Service Work

We’d like to announce that at the end of August Smiles Forever will welcome 4 American volunteers (Sharon Golightly, Becky Wagner, Sheila Quentin (left), and Ashley Coon(right)) who will be working with us here in Cochabamba for a little bit.

One of the many activities we have planned for them during their stay is a community service trip to they tiny rural village of Corani Pampa (about a three hour drive from the city of Cochabamba (see map)).

Dr. Sharon Golightly

On Saturday August 25th, SmilesForever and the Periodontics Society of Cochabamba sponsored a presentation by Dr. Sharon Golightly (center left), former director of the dental hygiene program at Pierce Community College. Dr. Golightly’s presentation included a lecture (theory) and practical presentation with patient on some of the new tools and techniques available for periodontists and perio patients. SmilesForever thanks Dr. Golightly and student Ashley Chanadiri (a dental hygiene student at Shoreline Community College who assisted Dr. Golightly during the practical portion of the presentation) for a job well done. Dr. Claudia Guzmán translated. See more pictures below.



Community Service Project – Corani Pampa

August 27th and 28th SmilesForever students, staff, and various US volunteers traveled to the tiny village of Corani Pampa (see map in previous post) to carry out what has become a yearly community service project for the SmilesForever Foundation. This year our work in Corani Pampa was composed of 3 different stages: educating the schoolchildren of Corani Pampa about proper brushing and general dental hygiene techniques, reinforcing that education by having the children practice with toothbrushes and toothpastes donated by the SmilesForever Foundation, and applying a flouride varnish to every child’s teeth. We also took a DMF statistic in order to better evaluate the dental condition of the Corani Pampa population. Our plan is for Corani Pampa to become to main community service project directed by our students. We also hope to return much more frequently to ensure that our efforts there aren’t wasted. We applaud the efforts of all our students, our graduated student coordinators, our staff, and the American Volunteers who lent their expertise and time to this project. We also appreciate that trust and good will of the Corani Pampa community. Thanks! (above, SF student Silvia Nina Condori helps a child practice proper brushing techniques)

(SF student Rosalia Nina Condori, Dr. Elizabeth Aviles, and graduated SF student coordinator Jhenny Vargas teach proper brushing techniques to a classroom of children)

(US volunteers Becky Wagner and Sheila Quentin take a DMF statistic)

(US volunteer Ashley Chanadiri and Dr. Patricia Ricci take a DMF statistic)

(SmilesForever graduate Sonia Sayari applies flouride varnish)

(our students and student coordinators plan the day’s work over breakfast)

“Implanting Smiles”

SmilesForever is proud to announce an inter-institutional agreement with the Cochabamba Society of Implantology to provide dental implants to 12 needy older citizens of Cochabamba. The name of this project is “Implantando Sonrisas” (Implanting Smiles), and was ratified at a dinner held by the Cochabamba Society of Implantology on September 4th of this year. As part of the project (which also involves the dental implant company MIS and a local Cochabamba laboratory) SmilesForever will cover a large part of the costs of acquiring the implants, will complete a pre-selection of candidates, will provide all dental-hygiene related services to the beneficiaries, and will observe/assist during the implant surgeries/procedures. The Cochabamba Society of Implantology will complete an in-depth final selection of candidates, perform the surgeries/implant procedures, and will provide follow up implant maintenance for the beneficiares for life. SmilesForever is excited for the opportunity to work with this respected Cochabamba society and to provide an important service to a needy group of Cochabamba citizens. We are also pleased to be working with dentists who have, and will continue to, contract our graduated students to work as dental hygienists. Some pictures of the agreement-signing dinner are below. (above (left to right), the vice-president of the Society of Implantology, the president of the Society of Implantology (Dr. Pablo Guzmán), the founder and executive director of Smiles Forever (Sandy Kemper), and the legal representative for Smiles Forever (Alejandro Beckrich) pose for a picture after the signing of the agreement).

(Alejandro Beckrich signs the agreement while Founder Sandy Kemper smiles forever)

(all parties contribuiting to the project “Implanting Smiles” pose for a picture)

(representing SmilesForever at the dinner were (top left to bottom right) James Rider, Operations Coordinator, Dr. Patricia Ricci, Instructor, Alejandro Beckrich, Legal Rep, Ashley Chanadiri, US volunteer, Sandy Kemper, Founder & Exec. Director, and Dr. Sharon Golightly, US volunteer)

Community Service Project – Corani Pampa (Part 2)

This past Thursday September 6th, we returned to the tiny village of Corani Pampa to complete our most recent round of community service work there (for part 1 of this project, see this post). We took a smaller group and finished up our DMF survey and flouride applications at the local school. We hope to return soon as our students continue to evaluate and plan their community service project there. Some pictures are below. (above, Dr. Sharon Golightly and SF student Emma Fuentes take a DMF statistic)

(US volunteer Ashley Chanadiri and SF student Silvia Nina Condori with schoolchild)

(left to right, SF students Silvia Nina Condori, Emma Fuentes, and graduated SF student Sonia Sayari await the start of the Corani Pampa school day)

Smiles Forever in Los Tiempos

The agreement-signing dinner that Smiles recently had with the Cochabamba Society of Implantology (see “Implanting Smiles”) was covered by the city newspaper, Los Tiempos. Follow the link below to see the article/photographs.

Thanks Pierre Fauchard!

Smiles Forever would like to thank the Pierre Fauchard Foundation for a generous grant they awarded us in 2007. Their grant allowed Smiles to buy dental supplies and instruments for the new “Clinica Smiles Forever” that will open in Cochabamba in early 2008. This clinic will help give Smiles Forever the ability to further carry out its charitable deeds, and will also provide high quality preventative and dental hygiene services to the city of Cochabamba at large. Grants like this and donations from committed individual supporters allow Smiles Forever to continue to carry out its important mission.

(Above Founder Sandy Kemper poses with SF graduate Carolina Ayala and the new supplies and equipment purchased with the Pierre Fauchard grant. Below SF graduate Sonia Sayari also poses with the newly purchased materials).

Smiles Forever – En Vivo!

Well, not quite “live”, but in video.  This promo, shot and edited by Kyle Minahan, explains some of the history, mission, and idea of Smiles Forever.   Comments, questions?  By all means, leave them below!