Mobile dental services are provided through mobile dental vans or portable dental clinics in population centres, schools, or hard-to-reach areas. The focus is to offer access to care for underserved residents of isolated, rural communities. This helps patients who would otherwise have to travel a long distance to access dental services. Thus, it can provide a convenient and cost-effective way for people to get the dental care they need. The mobile dental services model offers access to dental care, preventive healthcare, and chronic disease screening and management services. Services often offered by mobile dental programmes include oral screening and scaling (cleaning), extraction (removal of teeth), restoration (filling), complete/partial dentures and health education to sustain good oral health.
The first mobile dental van for community dental services started functioning as a Dental Health Care Service in 1984. The mobile dental unit equipped with dental chairs has been providing oral health screening, oral prophylaxis, extractions and school dental health programmes in the state’s various remote and isolated regions for over three decades. A newer van with three dental chairs replaced the original mobile unit in 2008, which was fully funded by Friends of Ludhiana, the United Kingdom support base for the work centred at the Christian Medical College & Hospital (CMC), Ludhiana. The mobile dental unit conducts nearly 130 mobile dental camps per year. This is in addition to patient care in satellite clinics and department clinics at the hospital. The mobile dental services, in their 38 years of service, have conducted thousands of camps, travelled millions of kilometres, and are a fine example of international collaboration, strong local support, a community-oriented approach, and public involvement in reaching the unreached and vulnerable part of the society for promoting oral healthcare.
The mobile dental services provide oral health care education and treatment to more than half the state of Punjab. Over the past 38 years, hundreds of thousands of patients have benefitted from the mobile dental services in Punjab. 130+ camps are conducted each year, through which thousands have received dental treatment that have resulted in the relief of pain and recreation of smiles.
Dr Abi Thomas writes: The present mobile dental van is more than 15 years old, and the vehicle registration is about to expire. We urgently require a new mobile dental van with functional dental chairs to facilitate and conduct camps. Your contribution would have a transformative impact, enabling us to reach thousands of individuals who currently have limited or no access to dental care.
Estimated cost: Chassis and Body building: £37,000, Dental Chairs & other equipment’s: £8,000 Total: £45,000 You can donate here now: https://www.friendsofludhiana.org.uk/get-involved/make-a-donation/