Dental Asia March/April 2024

DENTAL PROFILE
medical mission trips were shut down entirely.
The organisation and its beneficiaries relied
upon the robust network of local medical
professionals established to react quickly
and resume care as soon as local authorities
determined it was safe.
“In that time of uncertainty and ambiguity for
the world, our sustainable ‘teach a man to fish’
model allowed us to safely sponsor more than
68,000 safe cleft surgeries in over 60 countries
from March through December in 2020,” said
Dr Domínguez.
During the same period, Smile Train further
expanded its telehealth programmes to
monitor patients who still could not receive
surgery and provide virtual check-ups, speech
therapy sessions, and other remote care as
needed.
Dr Domínguez shared that in its early years,
Smile Train focused almost solely on cleft
surgeries in areas and regions where cost was
the main barrier families faced in accessing
cleft treatment. As the organisation’s
partnerships and impact expanded to reach
new countries and regions, so did the scope
of its medical programmes. Today, the
organisation supports not only cleft surgery,
but also oral health, nutrition, speech services,
psychosocial care, and other essential
services that families and children affected by
clefts often need.
The organisation’s model and partnerships
have also enabled them to invest in lasting
medical infrastructure, increase local
expertise, and redefine the public health
landscape through research, innovation,
training, and advocacy, to ensure safe and
holistic patient- and community-centred care.
Smile Train’s focus on comprehensive cleft
care is not only about supporting free cleft
surgeries, but extending support for additional
services such as dental, psychosocial, speech,
and nutrition care.
In September 2021, Smile Train and Dentsply
Sirona launched a five-year partnership to
improve access to global oral health care and
create a more sustainable future for cleftaffected
children and families worldwide.
The joint goal of the partnership is to improve
the entire spectrum of cleft care, leveraging
advanced dental technologies for safe,
efficient, and expert patient care.
Their newly launched ‘Digitalization in
Comprehensive Cleft Care’ Massive Open
Online Course and cleft treatment workflows
provide the first-ever global treatment
standards and best practices for digitised
dental cleft care. Moreover, such partnerships
across different corporate and private sectors
highlight the synergies and opportunities to be
realised for all parties involved.
“In addition to this significant development
that genuinely advances the future of cleft
care as part of our partnership with Smile
Train, we also provide cash donations to fund
cleft surgeries and donate digital equipment
units including intraoral scanners and x-ray
units, to improve cleft treatment outcomes,”
said Bruce Peatey, group vice-president APAC
RCO at Dentsply Sirona.
Dentsply Sirona further supports Smile
Train by providing its expertise in clinical
education to empower Smile Train’s partner
professionals to innovate and digitalise cleft
care treatments for their patients that would
otherwise not be possible.
“Corporate partnerships are essential to
providing funding and visibility, and they
also go beyond monetary contributions.
Partners like Dentsply Sirona offer invaluable
infrastructure, know-how, contacts, and
innovation, propelling Smile Train towards
achieving our goals and maximising our
impact,” Dr Domínguez added.
In addition to maximising impacts within their
respective fields, Smile Train and Dentsply
Sirona are also long-term global partners of
FDI World Dental Federation’s (FDI) yearly
WOHD programmes, which strive towards
aligned oral health outcomes. In 2022, Smile
Train, Dentsply Sirona, and FDI announced
a partnership to develop global standard
protocols for digital cleft treatment.
“By actively participating in initiatives like
WOHD, we can all contribute to raising
awareness and making a positive change
in securing good oral health for millions of
people worldwide,” said Peatey.
To celebrate WOHD in 2024, Dentsply
Sirona is providing a free-of-charge
‘Patient Communication Toolkit’ to dental
professionals to empower them to educate
their patients about the importance of oral
health and its direct impact on overall health.
These efforts are extended to its Smile Train
Through resources such as its Virtual Surgery Simulator and training
programmes, Smile Train’s model seeks to build up the clinical abilities of
local professionals
A technician at Smile Train partner FISULAB in Colombia using Dentsply
Sirona’s Primescan AC with a cleft-affected patient
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