The aim of the project was to expose dental and oral hygiene students to the principles of primary oral health care and to reach out to the children in the community.
Early in the morning the students from University of Pretoria and a supervisor go with the mobile unit to the school. The mobile unit is a trailer, with one dental chair. It is equipped with an autoclave, x-ray machine, suction and instrument to do restorative work and extractions. The dental team consists of two dental students, two oral hygiene students and a supervisor. When they arrive to the school, a sunshade is raised and attached to the van. Under this the dental hygienists prepare their chair. One assists and one work with the children. Inside, the two dental students prepare for the day's work.
In the beginning of the year all the children in the school are screened. It is determined if they need any dental care and what kind. All the children that need treatment are given a consent form to take home. The parents have to sign the consent form, which gives the dental students permission to work on the children. The consent forms are kept as a journal.
The treatment consists of cleaning, fissure sealant, bleaching, restorations and extractions, but the work that is performed is mostly fissure sealants and restorative work.
This particular area has a high fluoride concentration in the water; which gives a low incidence of caries but a lot of discolorations. This is why Professor Van Wyk, University of Pretoria started a bleaching program and about 50 children have been treated and with good results.
In this area people do not eat very much refined sugar. Together with the high fluoride concentration it has a good impact on the dental caries. That is perhaps why it is often sufficient with fissure sealant and oral hygiene instructions to keep the caries down.
Introduction 
