University of Toronto Donates Dental Chairs to Less Developed Countries
September 10, 2003 — Ottawa — The University of Toronto's Faculty of Dentistry has donated over $200,000 worth of aging dental equipment to a university in Romania and to clinical facilities in the Ukraine and Jamaica. The 25-year-old units were removed and shipped in July.
The faculty recently upgraded 229 dental chair units used in its teaching clinics. Rather than junk the old units, the University of Toronto donated 112 chairs to the Oradea Dental Faculty in Romania (which had been working with very outdated equipment); 50 chairs to Help Us Help the Children in Chernobyl in the Ukraine; and 10 chairs to the Friends of Trelawny in Jamaica. The last two recipients are clinical facilities that provide oral health care to people who normally can't afford it.
"In all three cases, our old units were a marked improvement over what these dentists and faculty were working with," said Dr. David Mock, dean of the University of Toronto's Faculty of Dentistry. "None of these facilities have the funds to buy new dental equipment."
Dr. Mock received a letter of appreciation from the president of the Romanian School of Dentistry, who informed him that without the donated units, they would still be teaching their students on antiquated equipment. This generally means they'd be teaching antiquated methodology.
The University of Toronto's Faculty of Dentistry also has a relationship with the federal government to provide oral health care services to Sioux Lookout and Moose Factory, two Ontario communities with large aboriginal populations.
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New, state-of-the-art dental chair units were
recently installed at the teaching clinic of the University of Toronto's
faculty of dentistry. Most of the old units were donated to developing
countries. |
