Bridge2Aid

Infant Oral Mutilation is a dangerous and sometimes fatal practice where developing teeth are gouged from the gums of small children using (mainly) unsterilised, sharpened bicycle spokes. This is dangerous and sometimes deadly, but it happens to around 2.5 million children every year. Our aim is to stop this from happening, and we need your help. There is very little knowledge around oral health in rural east Africa. If infants suffer from sickness or diarrhoea when they are developing their first set of teeth, traditional healers often diagnose the growing teeth as the cause of the illness. We’re working hard with local dentists and dental therapists to educate communities by running workshops that train ‘community champions’. These are school teachers, nurses, community health workers and other local people who have standing in their community, such as village elders. Together they are transferring knowledge to help stop Infant Oral Mutilation in their communities.