Big, Beautiful Smiles

Trying to teach a squirmy 3-year-old how to brush his teeth is challenging. But did you know the alternative is tooth decay, infections and long-term effects of dental disease?

At a Compassion church partner in rural Ecuador, staff members have renewed their efforts to teach the youngest children about dental health. Because even though they gave a dental hygiene kit to each child, they saw tooth decay increasing dramatically among preschoolers.

“The cavities average in children under 8 years is very high,” says Center Director Maribel Vásquez. “There are no statistics in Ecuador on this type of issue, but 70% of children at our child development center needed to attend the dentist because of tooth decay. It is an alarming fact because we are working with children under 5 years old.”

Most children in the center where Maribel works have never been to the dentist, so she and the staff started a cavities prevention project.

"In the workshops children attend, we teach them how to properly use their toothbrush and teach them the importance of brushing their teeth three times a day," she says.

According to Maribel, there is little awareness in the community of the importance of preventing tooth decay at an early age or of the importance of maintaining oral hygiene.

But today, 6-year-old Kevin understands.

"Here at the Compassion center I learned to brush my teeth so the cavities can't damage my teeth and then my teeth do not hurt," he says.

Every year, the children receive medical and dental checkups. The children also have their own toothbrush at the child development center, so after eating they can brush their teeth and take care of their smiles.

"I like to smile a lot and laugh. That's why I learned that I should brush my teeth, so they don't look damaged," said 8-year-old Vianca.

The dental care initiative is part of Compassion's holistic child development program, which helps to support every area of a child's life. If the bright smiles and contagious giggles of the children at Maribel’s Compassion center are anything to go by, the project is a success!

Would you be willing to support children's dental health? Learn more about providing life-changing dental kits through Compassion!