Even when other healthy habits fall to the wayside, brushing our teeth each day is one small, essential way we can make a regular contribution to our overall wellbeing. If you’ve ever thought that dental care was just about our teeth, this isn’t the case: in reality, the quality of our oral health has an impact on our overall health quality, helping to prevent infections, chronic diseases, or even life-threatening health conditions.
At Maluk Timor, we regularly see the impact of poor oral health on Timor-Leste’s people. With a lack in public knowledge, access to oral healthcare, or challenges in carrying out regular teeth cleaning habits as a result of limited resources, many Timorese suffer needlessly from dental issues that could have been prevented or reduced with early intervention.
As a part of our commitment to transforming healthcare in Timor-Leste and fighting preventable diseases, we’re working to close the gap in education, access to dental care, and preventative measures needed to improve oral health throughout the country. Oral health matters, because the quality of life of Timor-Leste’s communities and families matter. Here’s what we’re doing to close these crucial gaps.
The challenges of high-quality oral healthcare in Timor-Leste
Timor-Leste has only been an independent nation since 2002, when the people of Timor-Leste reclaimed their country after decades of invasion and occupation. In the 25 years since this turning point, Timor-Leste’s oral health workforce has grown to thirteen registered dentists and 46 dental nurses. This growth is notable – but with a country as geographically spread as Timor-Leste, oral health remains an urgent and underfunded gap in providing quality healthcare across the nation.
It’s particularly challenging for Timor-Leste’s people to receive access to oral healthcare services as a result of the country’s combination of geographic, economic, and systemic barriers. These include:
- Low numbers of dental professionals. With many rural or remote communities unable to access a dental professional without days of long travel, even the simplest of oral healthcare treatments can be missed for many of the country’s residents. This gap in healthcare access can lead to larger issues and long-term oral health complications, with delays in treatment (or a lack of treatment entirely) causing minor issues to develop into more serious infections.
- Gaps in healthcare education. When healthcare professionals or community workers are unable to provide families with crucial education in the importance of oral health, this can result in a knowledge gap that unknowingly contributes to poor oral health outcomes.
- Prohibitively expensive dental care. Timor-Leste is a developing nation, with many families existing within low socio-economic conditions. As oral healthcare is underfunded, this means that individuals may face prohibitively expensive access to dental care, leaving them without the option to receive the treatment they need for a growing dental problem or sudden oral emergency.
How Maluk Timor is increasing oral health outcomes
There’s no denying the many challenges that face the provision of high-quality oral healthcare throughout Timor-Leste – but at Maluk Timor, we’re dedicated to finding innovative solutions to these urgent issues.
We work to improve oral healthcare quality across the country through activities including:
- Preventing cavities with Silver Diamine Fluoride. Too many people – in Timor-Leste and throughout the world – aren’t aware that if cavities aren’t treated, they’ll spread through the mouth. We treat Timor-Leste children with Silver Diamine Fluoride to stop cavity-causing bacteria, helping to prevent existing cavities from getting worse, as well as keeping cavities from spreading to other teeth.
- Developing competency-based training modules. Dental nurses are the main providers of dental healthcare throughout Timor-Leste, but with limited professional development and low levels of ongoing support, they carry a heavy burden when it comes to providing sustained care for Timor-Leste’s people. Our work in developing competency-based training modules helps to strengthen the quality of care these nurses can deliver.
- Providing clinical expertise and knowledge sharing. As a part of our collaborative work framework, we support clinical services delivered by our partners at Ryder-Cheshire Klibur Domin.
- Developing standardised guidelines. By development and implementing treatment guidelines, we’ve been able to support Timor-Leste’s dental healthcare workforce in ensuring that dental treatments and medicines are provided safely and effectively. These guidelines empower this workforce to make informed decisions in their patient care, promoting standardised forms of practice and improving overall oral health outcomes.
- Providing public education in oral health. We used the power of social media to run a cash-prized social media campaign that focused on World Oral Health Day, demonstrating the importance of tooth brushing to people across Timor-Leste, Portugal and Brazil.
Conclusion
We’ve got a long way to go when it comes to achieving a high quality of national oral healthcare, but with our individual and combined efforts, we’re seeing genuine results year after year. With the health of Timor-Leste’s population at the core of our work, we’re dedicated to providing the tools, resources and healthcare access required to improve oral health and its impact on overall wellbeing.
A little support goes a long way. We invite you to become a crucial member of Maluk Timor, with donations from $55 a month contributing to powerful oral health outcomes for Timor-Leste’s people. Learn more about how you can play a key role in building a healthy future for these precious communities.