MANDEVILLE, Manchester — Hundreds of children and their parents benefited from free dental services during a back-to-school health fair dubbed 1000 Smiles, thanks to a partnership between overseas mission group Great Shape! Inc and businesses here.

The one-week fair, hosted at the Mandeville Baptist Church and supported by Golf View Hotel, Garden Hotel, Lial Global, QVC Financial Solutions, Allied Real Estate, Manchester Chamber of Commerce, and Ultimate Dining, attracted people from south-central Jamaica and as far north as Trelawny.

Dr Harvey Arnce, a board member of Great Shape! Inc, said 20 volunteers — including a mixed group of final-year dental students and retired doctors — participated in the mission.

“I have been doing this with the team for 22 years across the Caribbean. I have been to most of the islands. We also partnered with the Sandals Foundation,” he said in reference to missions, including a recently concluded health fair in St Ann.

Students from five dental schools participated in the health fair in Mandeville.

“The University of Western Ontario, Mid-Western University Illinois, Mid-Western University in Phoenix, University of the Pacific in San Francisco, and University of Southern California; the students typically come on these missions when they are not in school, so that is in August/September,” Dr Arnce told the Jamaica Observer last Friday.

Dr Harvey Arnce, a board member of Great Shape! Inc speaking with the Jamaica Observer in Mandeville on Friday. Kasey Williams

Among the dental services offered were teeth filling, cleaning and extractions

“We have to limit the volume of what we do on each patient, because 500 people who showed up for this week’s treatment and if we did a full mouth’s restoration, 400 [would] get to be seen. We are trying to just do a quadrant on each person,” said Dr Arnce.

He is encouraging Jamaicans to pay greater attention to their dental health.

“The diet here has high carbs and people get tooth decay. They don’t have check-ups on a regular basis. The decay gets bigger from inside the tooth and by the time it hurts, it is already too late for that tooth to be fixed and they end up with extractions. You almost have to be serviced on a yearly basis to fix a problem while it is in the early stages.

“If not, you would require a root canal treatment or an expensive crown. People would rather have it out, it is an economic and cultural issue as well as an availability issue of help. We are trying to solve the availability and affordability issue,” he added.

General manager at Golf View Hotel Keitho Nembhard speaking with the Jamaica Observer in Mandeville on Friday. Kasey Williams

The Great Shape! Inc team will now turn its focus to the western end in Negril, to continue its mission.

“We typically do about two weeks in each location and then we move. In each location we [stay] at a hotel and we go out to say two or three clinics,” explained Dr Arnce.

Among the beneficiaries of the dental clinic was Lorrimers, Trelawny resident Daegia Isaacs and her four children — ages 10, 16, 12, and five.

“I was scrolling through
TikTok and I saw someone talking about it and I did some checks and found that it was legitimate. I travelled all the way from Trelawny to be here, it is a huge help, especially that all four of my children [benefited]. I saved over $100,000 for all four of them and I was able to utilise the service for myself. Being that my children are not on any health insurance right now, this is a huge help,” said Isaacs.

General manager at Golf View Hotel Keitho Nembhard lauded the sponsors of the fair.

“We are in the centre of the island with small hotels. We don’t have a lot of rooms, so we partnered with Garden Hotel and they were able to accommodate the team and we gave up a lot of our rooms as well to accommodate the team. Meals were provided through the hotels and Ultimate Dining. QVC Financial Solutions was our transportation provider for the team. Allied Real Estate provided logistics and support… The Mandeville Baptist Church hall was used and the church was more than happy to accommodate the dental clinic,” said Nembhard.