SEAL Cambodia Passes 40,000 Children Treated

The SEAL CAMBODIA project was launched in 2012 and is funded by CamKids, and the Global Child Dental Fund (GCDF), in association with GC (Asia) Company, to provide sealants on the first permanent molars of up to 60,000 Grade 1 & 2 children, over a three year period. 

Approximately 60–90% of school children in Cambodia have dental cavities, often leading to pain and discomfort, which can also impact eating and disrupt sleep, which then affects their ability to concentrate at school. Seal Cambodia partners previously only provided fissure sealant to grade 2 children, but this has now been expanded to include grade 1 school children, so as to prevent dental decay from developing in molar teeth. 

Our team of dentists, dental nurses, assistants and dental students, continue to provide not only sealant protection for Grade 1 and 2 children, but also oral health education and tooth brushing instruction. Every child receives a free toothbrush so that they can continue to clean their teeth at home. Parents are also informed if there are any dental problems identified requiring treatment at a local dental clinic. 

Since January 2012 sealant treatment has been provided to a total of 40,346 children in Phnom Penh, Kampong Speu, Kampot and Kampong Cham provinces, covering 137 schools. 

This includes 17,789 by One-2-One Cambodia, 11,339 by Cambodia Dental Association (CDA), 4,890 by International University (IU), 2,599 by Buddhist Library Cambodia Project (BLCP), 2,430 by Regional Nurses Training Center (RCT), 751 by University of Puthisastra (UP), and 548 by Cambodia World Family (CWF).

Case Study: In October 2014, on behalf of the Seal Cambodia project, Dr. Callum held the Seal Cambodia partner meeting to open and restart the Seal Cambodia Project for a new semester. Dr Callum also introduced a new partner, the University of Puthisastra, who has joined the project to also provide sealant to young children in grades 1 and 2 at government schools. The agenda included demonstrating the new Seal Cambodia protocols and recycling of plastic covering for trays. 

Many other topics were discussed during the meeting. One of participants, Dr. Hans from International University (IU), said that it was a great for all the partners to attend the meeting before we recommence providing sealant to the Grade 1 and 2 students, and that he really appreciated the opportunity to contribute to the Seal Cambodia project so as to save young children’s teeth and help thousand of Cambodia children have a better quality of life. 

We would like to take this opportunity to say thank you to GC (Asia) Company and all the local partners for providing the resources, time and personnel to make this project a success.