Alto Arapiuns Project improves oral health in riverside communities in Pará

In ten riverside communities in the Arapiuns region, in Santarém, in western Pará, continuous prevention work is changing the oral health of hundreds of children. In the last expedition of the "Alto Arapiuns Project", carried out in August, 22% of the patients treated did not have any cavities — an important milestone for a region where, historically, access to dentists is scarce and toothbrushes were shared by entire families.

This was the 71st trip of the initiative, which since 2011 has traveled the Amazon rivers by boat to provide free dental care and health education. To ensure that care continues after the volunteers leave, teachers in these locations were trained to monitor and encourage students' daily brushing in schools.

"Our work goes beyond treatment. The objective is to change the habits of an entire community. We want to get there and not have teeth to pull out. We want to arrive one day, give the children a hug and leave", says Arthur Klas, president of the Alto Arapiuns Organization.

Despite preventive advances, the number of procedures is still high. Over the nine days of the expedition, the team carried out 878 services for 226 children. The project monitors each patient's history, and the data shows that the majority are migrating from high-risk to low-risk ranges for developing cavities.