Treating the teeth before the treatment!

Link to all the snaps..

http://www.imagestation.com/album/index.html?id=2100991924

http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLandingSignin.jsp?Uc=dy4523d.bn8k2srp&Uy=96mxnb&Upost_signin=Slideshow.jsp%3Fmode%3Dfromshare&Ux=0

Eventually the much awaited event was on the chart and the date was finalized.. It was to be held on 8th October 2006. But I was very skeptical about its success due to a number of reasons like Varun's absence, very short notice, no real preparations. But my worries did not materialize and we all together made it a success.. :)

This was the first time something like this happening in the Borivali chapter of Dream India. We all wanted this to happen as soon as possible especially with the Dengue and other diseases increasing. This was the first step towards the health related events. Arti was co-coordinating with Dr. Tarun Ahuja for arranging this dental camp and finally last week she came up with the date of this Sunday, the 8th of October. I panicked initially as I knew that Varun would be on leave and Abhi and I would not be present on Saturday. I thought there might be a crunch of volunteers. But Aniket, Arti, Sanket, Abhi and I did manage to take it smoothly. We also had Meena, a basti girl who is currently doing her M.Com and also working in computer hardware, supporting us in this cause. She knows the children well and they listen to her.

Parallel to these preparations, were Aniket's cousins preparing for his surprise birthday celebrations on the same day in the DI class. When Shivangi first called me and told be about her plans I was touched by the gesture that they want to celebrate it with kids and that would be their best surprise t0 Aniket. I discussed the same with Varun as was not sure if this is a great idea. Children should not start expecting it on each one's birthday plus we cannot make the classes as a ground for our celebrations. Also, they had their exams on next day so we were indecisive whether to spend so much time on celebrations. But before the dental camp they were hardly going to concentrate on studies and also we thought about the happiness the children would experience and a change before the dental camp. We thus thought of giving this a try.

Party time..

Before Aniket came to class, Shivangi and another cousin came to class with a huge huge cake and more than 50 odd balloons! The children were already excited. They themselves had prepared cards for Aniket. Not just that, but they also had made bouquet and wall hangings and some gifts to present it to Aniket. They sure deserved a party!! We all assembled on the first floor hall and sang for Aniket as he entered the class. This was around 10.30am. All the children were happy to be a part of celebrations. The birthday caps and balloons helped in increasing the celebration mood. Aniket cut the cake and we all sang for him. A few other cousins and friends of Aniket also joined us in the celebrations. Later they distributed cakes, wafers, chocolates, and samosas to the children. Everyone wished him separately and I loved to see the children so happy and enjoying themselves. They fought with each other to select the balloons and caps.

Aniket enjoying his birthday with children..

I always have to shout aloud to keep them quiet and believe me its not an easy task to make everyone sit down in pin drop silence. But this meditation thing has helped a lot. Once we are able to make them close their eyes, they do rest for 5 minutes without any noise. After they were done with having their breakfast of cake and wafers, the children performed some dances, songs, etc. Even Aniket sang a patriotic song 'Ye desh hai veer jawano ka..", after which Geeta told in detail about a mishap that happened in the basti. It seems four girls drowned in an open manhole. One died on the spot, one died on the way to hospital, one is still not found while only one survived. We all kept silence of 1 minute and together sang the song "Itni shakti hame dena daata". It was now about time for the doctor to arrive and so we cleaned up the hall as the children had littered eatables and wrappers around.

Meditation caps on..

Initally we had planned to keep the dental camp in the temple and take the kids in batches of 5. But as the temple was being cleaned up, we arranged for a bench and few chairs in the hall itself. Arundati, Aniket's friend who herself is a dentist was also present on this occasion. She explained them the importance of brushing the teeth, the techniques, the drawbacks, the consequences of not brushing etc. She explained them by means of pictures about the various form of cavities and the different ways to brush. We distributed the xeroxes of these pictures to each one of them. She also examined a few kids' teeth till the time doctor arrived.

Arundati explaining the importance of brushing the teeth..

Arti came with the doctor along with one of his assistants at around 12.40pm. Without wasting anytime, the doctor started examining the children. Arundati wrote down the specific details for each child as described by the doctor on a prescription sheet. This was written in medical terms and so we did not understand a word of it. I kept the chits together along with the individual status report file of the children. In an hour the doctor examined around 30+ children. There were three children with no cavities in their mouths and we all gave them a huge applaud. The doctor later told us that we can bring some kids to his clinic for teeth extraction and clean ups. He will do this free of charge. After examining all the children he left the place. He had brought a set of tooth brush and tooth paste for everyone and while we left the kids for the day we distributed them to each child.

Examination time..


Guru handing the Thank you card..

Tooth-brush tooth paste distribution..

Arundati later explained the meaning of the details she wrote on the sheet. I now know the terminology used for deciduous teeth, permanent teeth, cavities, root canal etc. If you want to know the same, attend the next dental camp ;)