Skip to content

Research, Teeth, and the Community

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn

Wilfred-Kenely

Prof. Nikolai Attard was on the other end of the phone and was passionately describing what he had in mind. ‘A mobile dental clinic will be able to reach out to the community, schools, old people’s homes, village squares and we’ll be collecting epidemiological data on oral health which can then be fed into existing health data. At the same time we’ll be providing a free dental examination and advice to thousands of people, which they will then follow up with their personal dentist. This could be a first for Malta.’ Nikolai, Dean of the Faculty of Dental Surgery (University of Malta), is determined to expand the Faculty’s teaching activities and promote oral health.

That was August 2012 and we (the University’s Research Trust; RIDT) immediately set the ball rolling. We looked at a number of possibilities, including importing a ready-made mobile dental clinic from the UK, but the costs were prohibitive. The most plausible option was to purchase a truck and find someone who could convert it into a high quality dental clinic. This would give us enough breathing space for the RIDT to raise the necessary funds while the project was in progress. Having obtained the necessary quotations it became clear that the project needed a hefty €120,000. In hand we had a clean sheet and zero funds. So we embarked on a fund-raising initiative. In the meantime, Attard and Dr Gabriella Gatt roped in engineer Albert Bonnici, who had experience setting up dental clinics.

The first donations started coming in around January 2013. We bought a DAF truck and, around March, Bonnici started the conversion work. He laid out all the designs and plans for services, including water, electricity, air conditioning, drains, radiation protection, and so on, while ensuring that the structure of the truck was strengthened where needed. The works were carried out in one of the mega-garages which form part of the Xpress Group Yard in Ħal Farruġ, which Albert converted into a workshop. In the meantime, donations continued flowing in from a number of sources.

Today, almost three years later, we are proud to announce that the University of Malta Mobile Dental Clinic will be on Malta’s roads by the end of July this year. The clinic is one of a kind: a fully equipped dental clinic on wheels on a par with other dental clinics. The clinic will bring oral health to everyone on the Island despite mobility impairments thus contributing to the socio-economic wellbeing of our country. It will have see a direct impact on the quality of life of the Maltese population, whilst providing vital information with regard to the current oral health status of the nation.

The Mobile Dental Clinic has been made possible through the generous contributions of GSK (Malta) Ltd, Cherubino Ltd, Bart Enterprises Ltd, Suratek Ltd, ProHealth Ltd, Rahuma International Ltd, the Good Causes Fund, and Xpress Group Ltd. The Research Trust and Faculty of Dental Surgery are deeply grateful to these companies and individuals who made this project possible.

8
Dr.Gabriella Gatt, Rector Juanito Camilleri (University of Malta) and Prof.Nikolai Attard inside the Mobile Dental Unit.

Author

More to Explore

Our Post-Truth Reality

Post-truth populism has secured a powerful mandate in the United States of America. This reflects a trend that extends through the world’s liberal democracies and will invite global imitation. In this opinion piece, Jonathan Firbank describes how post-truth populism works, why it works, and why the American election might show us how to fight it.

AGORA: Elections 2024 – Youth Absence and the Far Right Surge

During the run-up to the European Parliament Elections, Prof. Mario Thomas Vassallo grilled two MEP candidates on AGORA, a political talk show broadcast on Campus 103.7. Against the backdrop of numerous elections around the globe, a lack of youth representation, and the rise of the far right, the discussion got us thinking.

Smooth Operator: Improving Surface Finish in Additive Manufacturing

While the advent of 3D metal printing may redefine how designers develop parts for products, the process itself is not without faults. Andre Giordimaina speaks with THINK about the GLAM Project, which aims to improve the process of 3D metal printing by optimising the finish and performance of designed parts.

Comments are closed for this article!