Local veterinarian Dr. Hanna Ekstrom poses with children from the Northshore YMCA’s preschool and childcare program, as they show off the dental hygiene supplies they collected to donate to her Save Their Smiles dental outreach program. Photo by Deborah Stone.
"It’s good for them to know that there are people who are less fortunate than them," says Sabrina Horton, YMCA assistant program supervisor and lead teacher. "We teach them to have empathy and we instill in them the importance of helping those in need. We do this through a variety of monthly service projects, such as canned food drives for Hopelink, pennies for pets for the Seattle Animal Shelter and Halloween costume drives for the women’s shelter. They see that even as children, they can make a difference."
Recently, the kids participated in a dental project, where they collected toothbrushes, toothpaste, floss and other dental hygiene supplies and donated them to the Save Their Smiles dental outreach program.
Founded by Dr. Hanna Ekstrom, a local veterinarian, Save Their Smiles is a project operating under the umbrella organization of Partners in Health. Dr. Ekstrom created the program with the goal of improving the life-long dental health of Miskito Indians living within several villages located in the northeast corner of Nicaragua.
"This is one of the poorest areas in Nicaragua, which is one of the poorest countries in Central America," explains Dr. Ekstrom. "The residents here subsist mostly through agriculture and a bartering system. There is no running water and no electricity and very little opportunity for them to earn money. Though they have access to some healthcare through medical aid provided by Partners in Health, there is no dental program – no fluoride, no toothbrushes and no dentists. They’ve never learned about dental care and because of this, dental decay is rampant, causing immense pain and suffering.
"By age 3, their teeth are wrecked already. And by the time they’re adults, they don’t have any teeth left. It’s horrible."
She adds, "But, I see this as an easy problem to fix. It takes toothbrushes, knowledge and regular fluoride application."
Dr. Ekstrom has already brought down 1,000 dosages of fluoride and is working on getting a model for dispersal. She’s heading back to the area later this month with toothbrushes and other dental supplies that have been donated by various dentists and school groups.
Her plan is to travel from village to village instructing local health leaders, teachers and parents about dental hygiene, while disbursing toothbrushes to every child.
"There are 8,400 kids within 10 villages," says Dr. Ekstrom. "And I aim to reach all of them. I want them to know that using a toothbrush is easy and that it won’t hurt them. And if they do it every day, they’ll see that they won’t get sick and that their smiles will be prettier."
Dr. Ekstrom hopes that with fluoride applications and consistent tooth brushing real change can begin to occur within the population in a two to three year time span.
She adds, "A lot of aid projects fail because of different reasons. Sometimes, they’re too costly to sustain or too difficult to fully implement.
"But, this one is easy and low cost and the infrastructure already exists through the community health outreach program run by Partners in Health. It’s something that will be self-maintaining. And the bottom line is that it can make a definite impact on so many lives."
In explaining what motivates her, the local veterinarian emphasizes first and foremost that she doesn’t want to be a hero.
She explains that she simply feels compelled to help and notes she is fortunate she is in a position to be able to offer her assistance.
"The world’s wealth is so unevenly and unfairly dispersed," she says. "It can be overwhelming to know where and how to begin to help. I have chosen to focus on a specific problem in one small area of the world because I feel I can make a difference."
Dr. Ekstrom stressed the ability of one person to make a difference when she visited the YMCA preschool and childcare program to collect the children’s donations.
She first spoke about dental hygiene and the need to practice healthy dental habits on a daily basis.
She then shared information about the Miskito Indians with the kids, describing their way of life and culture.
"They don’t have grocery stores because they grow their own food," she told them. "They don’t have cars. They walk everywhere. They don’t have bathrooms in their homes. They wash their clothes in the river. The water they drink doesn’t have fluoride. And they don’t brush their teeth because they don’t have toothbrushes. They don’t know how to keep their teeth clean because no one’s taught them."
The children listened with rapt attention during Dr. Ekstrom’s presentation and they were fascinated with the pictures she showed them to illustrate her discussion. They were particularly interested in the photos depicting examples of bad teeth.
Then, they all gathered together to give Dr. Ekstrom the bag of donated goods. Expressions of pride shone in their faces, as they finally understood where their items were going and who would be the recipients.
"It’s the perfect way for them to make the connection," comments Horton.
For more information or to make a donation to Save Their Smiles, visit www.savetheirsmiles.org or contact Dr. Hanna Ekstrom at (425) 402-0187.
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