MANY Jamaicans will have more reasons to smile, thanks to the humanitarian work being done to provide free dentures and partial dentures at the University of Technology, Jamaica’s (UTech) recently established Dental Prosthetic Laboratory at the School of Oral Health Sciences, through its partnership with Great Shape! Inc.

Great Shape! Inc is the world’s largest non-profit international humanitarian dental programme. It brings US volunteers to Jamaica annually to provide dental care at mobile clinics as well as to provide oral health education.

The Dental Prosthetic Laboratory is the first of its kind established at any oral health training facility in Jamaica and has been set up with the support of Great Shape! volunteers, Bob and Dr Sonja Irlbeck working along with members of faculty, staff and UTech’s dental laboratory technician students.

Bob Irlbeck, an expert in making acrylic dentures, is a retired US dental technician and has worked in the field for decades. He explained that his motivation to help Jamaicans who are unable to afford access to dental care began when he and his wife, Sonja were on vacation in Montana, USA, last year and his expertise was requested by dentist, Myron Hendrickson, who has been working with Great Shape! on its mission trips to Jamaica to help with the 1,000 Smiles initiative.

They journeyed to Jamaica in November last year to begin the first phase of establishing the lab at UTech and returned in this February following his shipment of equipment through Great Shape! They have since completed the process and began making dentures and partial dentures for Jamaican citizens in rural communities.

The lab is now fully operational and has been set up with state-of-the art equipment comparable to the best of such facilities in the world. Referring to the Ivocap Injection System in the lab, Irlbeck notes: “I tell people that this is the best system in the world, and I know because in the United States we have all the systems. This is the best, and I decided to bring the best system to Jamaica.” He also brought along with him manuals from his own collection to help with teaching and learning. Dr Sonja Irlbeck, who is an educational training consultant with a PhD in curriculum development, has also been working with members of faculty and administration at the college in curriculum development.

Emphasising how pleased he is to be of service, Bob Irlbeck said: “This is a win-win. The students are learning a skill they wouldn’t have otherwise, and the free labour helps keep the cost of making dentures low.” He pointed out that in the US a full denture can cost between US$2,000 to US$3,000.

Explaining the significance of the new training facility and laboratory, which he notes is valued at over $12 million, Dr Irving McKenzie, dean, College of Oral Health Sciences, said that “the dental laboratory technician students will see and have a hands-on appreciation of the process of preparing dentures for real patients, and they will know what to do in aligning the teeth and getting proper impressions to send to the lab”.

Dr McKenzie expressed deep gratitude to Irlbeck for personally building required tables and other infrastructure needed for the lab and in some cases using his own funds and support from family to do so. He also thanked Great Shape! for its commitment to supporting the development of UTech’s oral health programmes since the inception of the college.