Aboli Foundation Hosts Dental Camp

On March 17, we organised our annual dental health camp at Zilla Parishad School Mahim No. 1. 126 students from 5 schools: Dhanvangepaada, Temkipaada, Tembhi, Aagar and the host school, attended our camp. To streamline the camp, we had different stations set up for height and weight checks, venipuncture (for blood tests), oral hygiene/dental check, and ophthalmic check.

It was challenging to coordinate and arrange the set-up on such short notice as we had less than a week to organise everything. The availability of dentists was a major constraint and the school year is almost nearing its end so we had to book this date for the health camp. 

The camp mostly ran smoothly. We did encounter a bottleneck issue with the ophthalmic station as there was only one optometrist with a single machine to do all the checkups. Students had to wait quite a long time for their turn. The venipuncture station also had a few hiccoughs along the way with some students fainting out of fear or hunger. We had high-glucose snacks on standby to help with this.

The students enjoyed the dentists’ demonstration of how to brush their teeth. They were thrilled to receive gifts from the doctors, and the cherry on the top was snacks and juice arranged by Mahim Aboli Foundation.

We are tremendously grateful to our team of dentists Dr. Suraj Natayankar, Dr. Kunal Bore, Dr. Pramod Jain, Dr. Tarun Rana, Dr. Hirakant Kokare, Dr. Darshana Shetty, Dr. Sunil Vishwakarma, Dr. Rohan Babar, Dr. Saurabh Danane and Dr. Anuradha Borole. A few of them suggested we organise a follow-up camp where we can provide treatment to students with severe dental issues. 

The camp couldn't have been successful without our team of volunteers: Dr. Aakanksha Patil, Miss Pooja Vartak, Mrs. Tejasv Vartaki, Mr. Anand Vartak, Mr. Ulhas Mhatre and Mr. Rajesh Churi. 

Our teachers played a crucial role in bringing the students to the camp on a Sunday. We are extremely grateful to Mrs. Poonam Churi (board member and advisor), Mrs. Sushama Dhanu, Mrs. Ravina Raut, Mrs. Ranjana Patil and Mrs. Sangita Raut. We are aiming to have another health camp near the end of June as our team of paediatricians was unable to attend this camp.