healthier smiles throughout the community. Through primary, secondary and tertiary prevention methods, the clinic cares for everyone from the newborn to the senior citizen. "We provide a broad spectrum of preventive services,'' explained Senior Dental Officer, Celia Musson Nzabalinda. "Currently we provide preventive dental education which formally starts at the nursery school level however we also offer it on an individual basis in the clinics.

"We will see any parent who requires information regarding things such as the cleaning of children's teeth, what to avoid as far as diet and so on. So we start really at the newborn level if the parent makes themselves available and continue to teach proper oral hygiene throughout life -- not just to parents and children but also to the caregivers of special individuals. Theirs is different in that it is geared to teach oral hygiene techniques for special individuals -- those who are developmentally disabled and geriatric patients.

And while there is no care at the geriatric level, we do offer preventive education.'' Primary prevention involves preventive dental education to parents and young children, fluoride supplementation and a sealant programme, Dr. Musson Nzabalinda explained. "Once they are in nursery school, we concentrate more on the children themselves although we can still provide Fluoride begins at 4 months programme. "Currently fluoride supplementation begins at four months of age but while that works well for something that's on the surface of the tooth, it doesn't for the grooves and pits of the tooth where it's hard to clean. So we use a sealant, a non-toxic, resin-like material which we put in the lines and grooves of the teeth to protect some of those other areas. It's not a guarantee against decay, but it is a good preventative measure and reduces the number of carries. "We have restorations, or fillings, that we can use which are preventive in nature. Even though they have decay, by restoring the tooth we prevent loss. So we are actually restoring the teeth to function and good health. Some are more preventive than others, it depends on the degree of breakdown in the tooth. "By exercising secondary preventive measures, we prevent other problems such as orthodontic problems due to space loss,'' Dr.

Musson Nzabalinda said. "When you lose a tooth prematurely, the others tend to move around and you begin to have problems with bite, with periodontal breakdown and of course, aesthetically, it's not pleasing.'' Tertiary prevention is for more serious problems. "We have a limited orthodontic programme which is one aspect of our tertiary prevention as well as the more extensive restoration measures we provide,'' she said. "Malaclusion or bad bite, can cause temporomandibular joint dysfunction (TMJ) -- causing loss of the ability to chew one's food or to speak correctly. "...there is one aspect of primary prevention that is important throughout, no matter what stage a person is at -- proper oral hygiene.'' HEALTH HTH