The newest mobile dental van has been unveiled, set to bring accessible dental care to more primary schools.
The Teeth on Wheels founding director, and dental practitioner, Joseph Zeid said the service now reaches about 200 schools.
“We service about 25,000 kids a year,” he said.
Joseph said the experience is positive for students, who get their dental check-ups in the van at school, which has space for them to bring friends along, and a TV to watch cartoons.
Joseph said he started Teeth on Wheels with his brother, Rami, 10 years ago, to help remove the stigma associated with the dentist.
“We both grew up having a negative outlook of the dentist … because of the language [our mum] used,” he said.
“She used keywords like … ‘don’t be scared, we’re going to be okay, be brave’,” he said.
Joseph said it was really exciting to get students to help with naming the new van.
The new van is named Jasmine, after the Disney princess, but also because it uses the first letter of Joseph’s name, following a long naming tradition.
“The first letter of each of our clinics is from a family member… the first six we have named relate to our parents and grandparents.”
Joseph said the service does as much as it can to help parents who can’t find time to take their children to the dentist.
“Our vans are set up so that we have the licenses to do X-rays and some fillings and extractions… which prevents bigger treatments.”
