Dental Health International Nederland
Local initiatives in the Netherlands.
DHIN is well known in the Netherlands among dentists.
So it is not strange that DHIN fulfills a central role in Oral Health activities for deprived communities.
DHIN mostly isn't an initiator, its' function is best described as being a facilitator.
On one side we have our donators like the Dutch Dental Association, our supporters (Dutch dentists) and many many dentists who donate instruments and complete dental cabinets.
On the other side we support a lot of projects.
DHIN has an active attitude toward Basic Oral Health Programs in which the following items play a major role:
Oral Health EducationPreventionOral Urgent TreatmentARTDHIN has a less active role toward technical assistance and procurement of dental materials. But as we get a lot of requests for this type of work, we put a lot of effort in it. The people in our storehouse have a tough task in coping with all the requests they get.
In fact they deliver over a hundred packages each year. These packages vary from a small Dental First Aid Kit to a completely equiped dental practice packed in a few crates.
Examples:
Dentists refurbishing their dental practice often donate their installation to DHIN. Our people are quite good at throwing away the worn out stuff and recondition the materials that are worth to be reconditioned. We have a lot of experience in adapting dental units to situations with lack of electricity, bad water quality etc. etc. The materials we send can resist a lot of tear and wear.
On the other hand there are a lot of local communities and committees who are dedicated to help other communities in Third World countries. However their efforts are mostly directed toward Eastern European countries. (here's an example)
In their work these committees may stumble upon
- a local Dutch dentist willing to donate his old 'chair'
- a dentist in some faraway village in Rumania or anywhere between Estonia or Armenia who is in desperate need of equipment and materials.
The helping group mostly has little or no knowledge about what they have received from the 'generous donator' .
That's where the help of DHIN is needed.
- First to explain that a chair may be more of an obstacle than an opportunity.
- Second to explain that helping other people can only be done with appropriate materials or else you are on the way of insulting the people you are willing to help.
"If a Dutch dentist cannot work with a forceps with a loose slot, how can you expect another dentist to work with it" often is an eyeopener for many people.
DHIN sells them appropriate equipment and materials at a very moderate price.
The profit we make is used for education and prevention projects elsewhere on this planet.
This makes the circle round.
Dental Aid for deprived communities neither is BPOC nor more Dental Equipment.
It is about ensuring that dental workers both
- know about appropriate affordable care techniques
- and have the right instruments and materials to provide oral health care for that specific community.
For example: Planning a BPOC project in Myanmar is completely different than refurbishing a worn out practice in Transsylvania.
But both serve the same purpose in quite a different way.
At DHIN we try to find a right mixture in each project we come across.