Is there an alternative website to the thousands of foreign websites that portray Americans as bad and evil? Well, here foreign visitors can learn about and discuss American life with Americans, with a special look at good things Americans are doing in Africa, Asia, South America, Europe and around the world.

What a great idea for a website! Check out their article on Smiles here:

http://whoareamericans.com/2007/09/26/american-charity-bolivian-dental-hygienists/ 

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).

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.

http://www.lostiempos.com/click/click150907/invitados2.php

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)

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)

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)

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.

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)).

Our students will be taking the lead in providing flouride varnish treatments to the children and adults of that community. Our students will also be giving educational talks on proper dental hygiene care. The experience of these volunteers is invaluable for our students as we try to introduce the important career of dental hygienistry into Bolivian society (where it does not exist). We thank them in adavance and anxiously await their arrival!

For more information contact Alejandro Beckrich (a_beckrich@hotmail.com) or James Rider (jamestrider@gmail.com). We’ll be sure to keep you posted on our future activities and will post pictures as soon as humanly possible.

We hope that this blog will be useful and informative to you.  We also hope that it will encourage you to get involved! If you like what you see here please do support our efforts. You can make a simple, easy, convenient, online tax-deductable donation to Smiles Forever through “Network For Good” (click on the button on the right hand side of this blog). You can also support us by simply searching the internet! If you haven’t heard of GoodSearch, you should really check it out (click on the button below to search in support of Smiles Forever):

Check back soon for pictures and updates of our activities. And by all means, leave us a comment!