Between January 9 – January 19, 2025, Hands on Peru was visited by our fourth brigade of 5th year dental students from Basel University, Switzerland.
In those ten days, we saw 433 patients. Patients came from all over Huanchaco and Trujillo to seek high quality dental care at zero cost! The most common procedures were cavity fillings and profilaxis, as well as a few extractions and root canals.
Notably, we hosted 2 exterior dental campaigns in collaboration with the police! The first campaign, located in community ‘El Milagro’ was exclusively for children, where we gave over 100 children free profilaxis, donations of toothpaste, toothbrushes, and of course some stuffies!! 🙂 Our second dental campaign in the community of Huanchaco was for all ages, and was also held in collaboration with the local police station.
Our team consisted of 2 registered dentists in Peru (Dr. Jose, HOP’s lead dentist, and Dra. Violeta, HOP dentist), 6 dental students, 2 volunteer medical interpreters from Trujillo, and 3 volunteer nurse technician students from Trujillo, as well as supervision and coordination from HOP’s core staff.
Dental campaigns such as these are hosted as an effort to expand access to essential and preventive healthcare to as many people as possible in the surrounding areas and to improve oral health. The good news is that the majority of patients we see in campaigns can access our public health clinic after the campaigns to receive follow-up, long term dental care!
“In dental campaigns like this, we are able to help so many people who would otherwise not have the means to get the dental attention they deserve. It is also a great opportunity for the population to learn about Cesapu and all of our other services that can benefit them.” – Renzo Aguilar
If you or your dental team is interested in visiting HOP, please reach out to us directly and send an e-mail to our founders katie@handsonperu.org (if from USA) or rosa@handsonperu.org (if from Europe).
