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A beautiful smile is no longer dependent on a full pocket. The Orthodontic Department of the Rambam School of Graduate Dentistry is now offering orthodontic treatment at greatly reduced prices for children with limited means. So far, about 50 children have already been treated

Last month, dozens of children arrived at the Orthodontic Department at the Faculty of Graduate Dental Medicine at Rambam as part of the project, Orthodonture for Everyone – Teeth Straightening for Children with Limited Means. This was the second of two such sessions held at Rambam, during which some 50 children received orthodonture treatments. The project is a cooperative initiative of Dr
Dror Aizenbud, director of the Division of Orthodonture and Congenital Facial Deformities at Rambam, Dr Shmuel Eini, senior physician in the division, and the Lotus chain of clinics, which subsidizes the treatments.

The seeds for the program were first planted a while beack, when Lotus approached Rambam’s new graduate dentistry school with the idea that it open an orthodonture program. The Lotus clinics, established by the non-profit organization, Lotus, provide treatment to children from low-income families throughout Israel. Until this time, the clinics offered dentistry, but not orthodonture treatment.
Rambam readily agreed to Lotus’ suggestion, and initiated a program under which poor children are treated for only 25% of the regular price. This brought orthodonture in reach of those who previously considered it a luxury.

Children are chosen for treatment by Lotus clinic dental practitioners, who select candidates according to the severity of their condition. On treatment days, Rambam closes its own orthodonture clinic to regular patients, and opens its doors to the selected children. To guarantee a pleasant experience, the clinic turns these days into ‘happenings’, complete with entertainment, activities and snacks (healthy, of course) for the young patients.

Rambam’s new graduate dentistry school, aimed to increase the number of dental specialists in Israel through postgraduate education, trains students in orthodontics, as well as in endodontics, periodontics and maxillofacial reconstruction. A joint venture of Rambam Medical Center and the Technion's Rappaport Faculty of Medicine, the new school will also educate physicians whose specialties converge with dentistry, such as cardiology or infectious diseases.

“Before we entered the Orthodonture for Everyone program, the only orthodonture work we did was treating craniofacial anomalies, working as a team with surgeons to reconstruct the faces of children and adults,” says Dr Aizenbud. “Now we are also doing ‘everyday’orthodonture.” Gaining momentum in recent months, the orthodonture program has recently finalized its curriculum, established a new wing, built new clinics and hired instructors.
The program is expected to receive formal Ministry of Health approval in early fall, and will initially accept two dentists for its first class in the October 2010 semester.