University of California Santa Barbara Dental Brigade December 2024 Guatemala

Global Brigades offers 7-9 day Dental Brigades throughout the year in Honduras, Panama and Ghana. Dental Brigade volunteers have the opportunity to shadow licensed dentists in urgent and preventive dental services in communities with limited access to healthcare. Dental Brigades also focuses on prevention with dental hygiene workshops. Each of our partner communities receives a brigade approximately twice a year. Electronic patient records are collected for future visitations and to monitor overall community health trends. A typical brigade structure includes three clinic days and a Holistic Model Day. This unique day allows for Medical/Dental brigaders to experience one of Honduras’ other programs: Architecture, Business, Engineering, Microfinance, Public Health or Water Brigades. Through these Holistic Model Days, volunteers are able to tackle non-health related issues that are often times the root cause of common illnesses seen on Medical and Dental Brigades. The main health concerns in our communities include diarrhea, respiratory illnesses, waterborne illnesses and abdominal pain.