The first dentists have arrived at the Smile Clinic Too

Annually, the San Pedro Smile Clinic Too at the Holy Cross Anglican School hosts a number of dentists offering free dental services. The first two of the visiting dentists were at the clinic between the 23rd and 27th of January, and with the aid of other volunteers on the island, attended many children from 8AM to 3PM.
Dentists Dr. Paul Roggow, and Dr. George Hankel are from the USA. This year marks Roggow’s tenth trip to the school and on the invitation of Doctor Mark Johnson, the founder of the clinic. During the clinics, both doctors provided several dental procedures. “We do mainly fillings, cleanings and sealing,” said Roggow. All patients who needed extraction were referred to the dental clinic at the Dr. Otto Rodriguez San Pedro Polyclinic II.
According to Roggow, the services they provided were aimed at preventing tooth decay and gum disease, to mention a few. Children who were treated not only received dental gifts, such as tooth brushes, floss and toothpaste, but they were given lessons on what to eat in order to help them maintain healthy teeth.
Dr. Roggow also mentioned that the services were not limited to only the students from the school, but to anyone in the San Mateo Area that may need dental services. “We had a couple of patients from outside the school who received dental services,” said Roggow. According to him, anyone is welcome to visit the clinic.
The Clinic has been operating for over a decade, and according to school management, over the years, the condition of the students’ teeth has improved significantly. They believe that the visit from dental volunteers every year, and the education on healthy eating has also added to such good results.
There is hope that a second clinic can be built at one of the other larger public schools on the island, which would be able to accommodate similar volunteer groups.
During the upcoming weeks, different groups of dentists will be visiting the clinic. The dentists will be coming to the school until the first week of May, so teachers and parents have plenty of time to make their appointments and benefit from the dental services.