Guelph Village Dental is celebrating an anniversary. It has been just over a year since the team began welcoming refugees from Syria to the clinic. We have now provided free dental services to more than 15 families, including children as young as three and adults up to age 75.
A number of the patients hadn’t had any recent access to dental care before visiting Guelph Village Dental. Often they weren’t in a position to focus on their oral hygiene either. “In some cases they had been in refugee camps for 2 to 4 years, so brushing and flossing their teeth and their kids’ teeth understandably wasn’t the number one priority,” says Dr. Ketan Mistry.
Guelph Village Dental has provided services such as cleaning, tooth fillings, root canals, tooth extractions and denture repairs. “We also spend a bit of time to show parents how to not only take care of their own teeth, but to take care of their children’s teeth,” Dr. Mistry notes. “We’ve seen a lot of tooth decay, especially in the kids, and a fair bit of gum disease.”
Dental needs vary depending on the care patients had received in Syria. “Some of them had experienced absolutely no services,” Dr. Mistry says. “We had people in their forties or fifties coming to the dentist for the first time ever. Others had been to dentist a couple times a year and had crowns and root canals.”
The whole team was inspired by an article in the Guelph Mercury detailing Guelph businessperson Jim Estill’s pledge to bring 50 Syrian refugee families to the area at a personal cost of $1.5 million. “We saw the article and thought about how we could help,” Dr. Mistry says. “Obviously we are dental professionals and our time and our efforts are one of the ways we can help these people who are arriving in and adjusting to a new country.”
Each family is offered one free year of dental services. “People have been extremely grateful, bringing us small gifts and treats,” Dr. Mistry says. Besides receiving vital dental care, there has been an added benefit to the collaboration. “A lot of staff members see these families out and about in and around Guelph and stop and have conversations with them,” he says. “I think one of the best things is it gave these families more familiar faces, more friends in Guelph, which is huge for people who have left their homes.”
Read more about our new patients in these posts:
Ahmad, a Syrian refugee brought Dr. Mistry candy in celebration of his newborn Canadian baby.
Meet the first Syrian family we welcomed and read about their harrowing journey to freedom.
Find out more about the Guelph community’s pledge to help Syrian refugees in this article in the Guelph Mercury.
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