Professor of the Dentistry course at Bahiana was among the five best coordinators in the world in the Dentistas do Bem Project

Every year, Turma do Bem - TdB holds the SORRISO DO BEM award which, in 2012, reached its 7th edition and brought together 400 professionals from Brazil, Latin America and Portugal, on October 22, at Teatro Abril, in Sao Paulo. Salvador was represented by the volunteer dentist and regional coordinator, Leonardo Costa, professor of the Dentistry course at Bahiana. Thanks to his work in coordinating the project in the capital of Bahia, the professor was named one of the 51 Ambassadors of Turma do Bem and, in the 2012 Smile Award, he was among the five best coordinators in the world. 

In his first year as coordinator, he managed to increase the number of visits to young people, through the network of Dentists for Good in Salvador, from 113 to 213 (88%). His work as a promoter and diffuser of the program also expanded the network of volunteer dentists, going from 71 to 93, "numbers still timid given the shortage of our population and the number of dentists (4653)", he analyzes. Among the actions of the project, he carried out four screenings, one of them in Simões Filho, in addition to having acted as advisor to the Dentistry student at the Bahiana, Monah Sampaio, one of the finalists of the Student of Good competition, whose work was among the 11 best in a total of 900 panels submitted. 

According to Prof. Leonardo Costa, "the regional coordinator works to get more volunteer dentists and carries out screenings in public schools and social institutions. For the Dentista do Bem Project to grow and reach more young people, it is important to expand the network".

From October 19th to 22nd, a training course was held for new regional coordinators, in which two dentists from Salvador participated. “The entry of new coordinators, Dr. Elizabeth Magalhães and Dr. Martha Colavolpe, will leverage the project and together with Dentists for Good, they promise to make Salvador a reference in the Turma do Bem, as this is the Land of Joy and the Smile is the most beautiful expression of joy!”

The Good Class
Turma do Bem - Tdb is an OSCIP (Civil Society Organization of Public Interest), founded in Brazil in 2002, whose mission is to change society's perception of the issue of oral health and the dental class in relation to the social and environmental impact of your activity.

TdB's main project is DENTISTA DO BEM, which counts on the voluntary work of dentists who care for low-income children and adolescents, providing them with free dental treatment until they turn 18 years old. The treatment, carried out in the volunteer dentist's office, is curative, preventive and educational in nature. Currently, the project has around 10 volunteer dentists, making it the largest specialized volunteer network in the world. It is present in more than 900 municipalities in Brazil, 10 countries in Latin America and Portugal. More than 300 thousand children and teenagers have already been screened by the project and more than 30 thousand have been referred to the dentist.

If you are a dentist and want to see project patients, contact your city coordinator.