Volume 8 • 2021 • Issue 4

How Dental Students Learn to Be Advocates for Global Health In the midst of their studies and during a year of upheaval, Matt Preston, Vivian An, Madelaine Jong, and Jacob Thomas (l. to r. above) spent time thinking about a devastating oral disease called noma. Together, the four University of Toronto (U of T) faculty of dentistry students created the Noma Action Group (NAG) to raise public awareness, educate dental students about the disease and advocate for its inclusion in the WHONeglected Tropical Diseases list. M adelaine Jong first learned about noma from a U of T professor, who’d treated the disease in Mozambique. “During clinic, Dr. Joel Rosenbloom told me about a documentary he’d just seen about noma,” says Jong. “He said he couldn’t stop crying throughout the whole film and he said it was a life-changing kind of experience.” Jong watched the film and felt it was something all dental students should see. She brought her classmate Jacob Thomas to meet with Dr. Rosenbloom. “He poured his heart out in the middle of the cafeteria,” says Thomas. “It really struck a nerve with us because noma can sometimes be prevented by good oral hygiene.” Jong and Thomas were the U of T dental school’s community outreach leaders and already had an interest in helping underserved communities. “Noma became our number one priority,” says Thomas. Jong, Thomas and Rosenbloom began to organize the Canadian premiere of Restoring Dignity: A Journey with Noma Survivors ( restoring-dignity.com ) , a documentary made in Nigeria and directed by French filmmakers Claire Jeantet and Fabrice Catérini. At first, they hoped to show the film at the dental school, but when the pandemic made that impossible, they decided to show it virtually at the U of T faculty of dentistry. Photo: Jeff Comber, University of Toronto Maryam, age 4. Courtesy of Inediz: Claire Jeantet and Fabrice Catérini. 32 | 2021 | Issue 4