Dentsply Sirona supports Project 32: Improving Access to Oral Care in South America. In line with its goal to achieve 25 million smiles by 2025, Dentsply Sirona continues to build upon an almost 10-year partnership with Project 32, which provides oral health care for underprivileged populations in Brazil and across South America. The most recent actions were taken in 2022 through which more than 200 patients benefited from free dental treatments. This year, Project 32 will again make a trip to the Amazon Rainforest and hold a ‘Christmas Without Pain’ event to reach those struggling with homelessness.
Charlotte, NC. Project 32 is an initiative of Prof. Dr. Manoel Eduardo de Lima Machado (University of São Paulo) that Dentsply Sirona has supported since its founding almost 10 years ago. The program was built on the principle that every tooth matters and that preserving natural teeth improves overall health. The name is a reference to the typical number of teeth in the adult mouth. The project is aligned with Dentsply Sirona’s commitment to improve access to oral health care and to enable dental professionals to provide best patient care with confidence.
Prof. Machado, in partnership with Dentsply Sirona has developed a simplified treatment kit that can easily be used in remote areas to provide endodontic care. As part of Project 32, an efficient root canal technique was developed with a standardized and simplified endodontic protocol that has a shorter learning curve while maintaining excellent clinical results and that can be used in challenging environments.
In Brazil, many communities lack endodontic care due to a combination of the cost of the procedures and the distances to access treatment. This is why Dentsply Sirona continues to support Project 32 as a part of its sustainability program, “BEYOND. Taking Action for a Brighter World”. The program’s most recent actions took place in 2022 where Dentsply Sirona provided materials, equipment and financial resources for the Amazon Rainforest mission and ‘Christmas without Pain’ event.
“Roughly 80 percent of the people living in Brazil lack access to dental treatment and I feel that it’s important to use our skills and advances in technology to address that treatment gap in a way that can be easily expanded to more communities and settings. That’s one of the exciting things about Project 32,” said Prof. Machado.
Treatments for people living in the Amazon rainforests
Over the years Dentsply Sirona supported Project 32 in providing dental care, especially endodontic treatment, to the people living on the banks of rivers in the Amazon Rainforest with team members, equipment and materials traveling into remote areas by boat. In November 2023, the Project 32 team will once again head into the Amazon for a multiple-day mission.
Over time the project has expanded to include actions treating vulnerable populations in urban settings as well. Overall, 1,280 patients have benefited from the care given to them through Project 32.
‘Christmas without pain:’ Free dental care on the first Saturday in December
Each year in December, Prof. Machado and his team, with Dentsply Sirona’s support, provide free endodontic and restorative dental treatments at the São Paulo Association of Dental Surgeons (Associação Paulista dos Cirurgiões-Dentistas) inBrazil for those who lack access to oral care such as the city’s homeless population. Last year, the team provided approximately 100 endodontic treatments and 120 restorations to patients throughout the day. Other countries have joined the effort as well, with dental professionals working in parallel in the city centers of 9 cities in 9 countries in South America. This year, on the first Saturday in December, ‘Christmas Without Pain’ will include treatment actions in Mexico, Panama, Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Dominican Republic, Colombia, Peru, Uruguay, Bolivia and Brazil.
“We are inspired by the efforts of Prof. Machado and his team. Their resourcefulness and creativity are helping improve oral health and its delivery to communities in need. Dentsply Sirona has proudly supported Project 32 in its efforts to expand access to dental care in Brazil and beyond since 2014. As the project has grown, so too has our partnership. We are very much looking forward to continuing our partnership with Project 32 to enable dental professionals to provide best dental care with confidence and give even more healthy smiles to communities in need.” said Prof. Dr. Rainer Seemann, Vice President Global Clinical Research and Scientific Support at Dentsply Sirona.
As part of Dentsply Sirona’s sustainability strategy “BEYOND: Taking action for a brighter world,” partnerships with organizations like Project 32 are critical to helping improve the quality of and access to oral health around the globe. For more information on BEYOND, visit As part of Dentsply Sirona’s sustainability strategy “BEYOND: Taking action for a brighter world,” partnerships with organizations like Project 32 are critical to helping improve the quality of and access to oral health around the globe. For more information on BEYOND, visit http://www.dentsplysirona.com/sustainability.
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