Following the second session of the offsite dental unit hosted by Gulf Energy Development Public Company Limited (GULF) and the Faculty of Dentistry, Chulalongkorn University in Baan Ban Chado community and Thap Chang Klong Bon community last October and November, GULF and Dent Chula ended the year with the third ‘GULF Sparks Smiles’ offsite dental unit in the Bang Na community. The unit provides free access to quality dental services. In addition, there were oral health knowledge sharing sessions for village health volunteers and locals so they could pass on the knowledge to colleagues and people in the community.

Assoc. Prof. Pornchai Jansisyanont, Dean, Faculty of Dentistry, Chulalongkorn University, said: “When the Faculty of Dentistry at Chulalongkorn University received solid support from GULF and ran two sessions of offsite units in the past two months, we saw a wide variety of oral health problems among people in the community. That’s why in this third session, our team of dentists recommended Thais care more about dental and oral health, since prevention of oral disease is better than treatment. The faculty will continue to launch offsite dental units in the coming years to continue our commitment for sustainable care in the community, including providing knowledge on dental health education to public health workers so that they understand and can share the knowledge with others around them.”

“Over the past two months, the ‘GULF Sparks Smiles’ campaign has brought smiles to more than 300-400 people in the community with services such as fillings, tooth extractions, and scaling as well as more complex procedures like wisdom tooth removals. We achieved this thanks to good partner like the Faculty of Dentistry, Chulalongkorn University, who brought both dental personnel, assistants and medical students to join the unit. I would like to thank people in this close-knit community as well for their cooperation as they helped spread the word so the campaign could be well-received. In addition, I would like to thank the working team plus GULF employees who volunteered for the event. The company is committed to continuing projects that improve people’s quality of life,” said Mr. Tanon Tantisunthorn, Chief Corporate Affairs Officer, Gulf Energy Development Public Company Limited.

Mr. Sitamon Ratanavadi, on behalf of Mr. Sarath Ratanavadi, Chief Executive Officer, Gulf Energy Development Public Company Limited, stated: “GULF has a mission to improve the quality of life of people in the community. This year, GULF has tried our best to help people in various communities in Bangkok during the COVID-19 pandemic. We hope that our recent joint endeavor with a partner like the Faculty of Dentistry, Chulalongkorn University, will be another activity that takes care of people so that they have better health and quality of life.”

Ms. Kritaporn Sangkatin, a local from the Bang Na community, said: “Thank you for organizing the offsite dental unit and offering an excellent, high-quality and fast service from the dentistry team and volunteers from Dent Chula. I would like to thank GULF for co-hosting this great project and helping out people who have suffered from the COVID-19 crisis.”

Regarding COVID-19 prevention and control measures, there was a screening point to measure temperature, blood pressure, and pulse as well as taking patient histories of people at risk of COVID-19. Patients received queuing cards, with seating in waiting areas arranged to maintain proper social distancing. Within the treatment area, preventive measures for dental health care settings established by the Thai Dental Council were also strictly followed, with dentists and dental personnel donning protective equipment such as face shields, protective eyewear, medical masks, PPE suits and surgical gloves at all times during the dental procedures. Additionally, there were partitions between each patient and a strict cleaning regimen before and after every treatment. Extra oral suction was used to reduce the diffusion of aerosols. Moreover, there were plasma sterilizers to clean the air and reduce the spread of germs.