Brighter smiles, one community at a time!!

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The Problem

Dental caries & decay are prevalent conditions. There is a critical need to offer assessment, treatment, and dental hygiene education for teachers and children in schools. 

For children, dental caries have been associated with:

  • failure to thrive

  • impaired speech

  • reduced food consumption

  • poor school performance

  • high school absence rates

  • great physical pain

  • stress & mental anguish

  • social impairment

  • embarrassment

  • sleep disturbance

  • poor nutritional intake

Untreated oral disease has been linked to infection, sepsis, tooth loss, chewing difficulty, poor nutrition, negative facial aesthetics, & reduced quality of life. But it is also associated more serious systemic conditions such as cardiovascular disease. If left untreated, dental disease can lead to death in children.

As is true for many parts of the globe, oral health is a significantly neglected public health priority in Africa, impacting approximately 480 million people or 43.7% of the WHO Africa region population (WHO 2025). Despite the link between one’s oral health to general well-being & other Non-Communicable Diseases, the continent faces a high burden of untreated dental caries & severe periodontal disease (Nwabunka 2026). Key challenges include a lack of inclusion for health policy & resource allocation, a critically under-resourced oral health workforce (ratio of 0.44 professionals per 10,000 people), limited access to care, & high rates of tooth removal (Nwabunka 2026).

Our Solution

Because Africa is experiencing some of the world’s highest burden of oral disease, we will begin our work there, always partnering with local dental professionals as well as those in training, to assess unmet need, provide treatment, & deliver dental hygiene education for all children in kindergarten through 12th grade.

Should they require treatment, SEED will:

  • cover costs of transport to a dental health facility

  • pay all costs for required treatment, e.g., fillings, extractions, periodontal disease, deep cleaning, but also numbing agents, antibiotics, & filling compounds

  • provide children & teachers in each school with dental hygiene materials, e.g., toothbrush & toothpaste, or locally used materials, e.g., dental sticks

    To ensure that all who have been treated maintain their dental health, we will:

  • provide teachers with dental needs assessment, treatment, & hygiene materials, covering all costs

  • deliver education and training on preventive dental hygiene techniques for teachers

    Then, once a school has received care, teachers can reinforce messages about prevention of oral disease & the importance of daily oral hygiene

You can directly contribute to our movement by sharing our page on social media &/or by donating to SEED. All funds will be applied to improve the dental health of children & prevent future decay & tooth loss.

References Cited