Pushing the Boundaries: Expanding Oral Health in the Amazon Rainforest
Dr. Kamila Kantovitz
School of Dentistry
This innovative initiative addresses healthcare inequities, including critical oral health disparities among riverside, indigenous, and “quilombola” (descendants of enslaved Africans who formed independent communities) populations in the remote regions of the Amazon rainforest in Brazil. The Amazon rainforest spans nine Brazilian states, with a dispersed geography and limited highway
system that makes healthcare delivery challenging. Rivers serve as roads and healthcare is delivered by hospital ship. The medical and dental ships deliver care to 6% of this population (around 20,000 people) each year. This project offers UMB students a unique opportunity to provide dental care to isolated communities along Tapajós and Amazon Rivers, while traveling aboard the ship. It aims to serve as a connection between academic training and real-world healthcare practice, while giving these communities an opportunity for high quality dental treatment. It is a collaborative initiative between the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB), the Federal University of Western Pará (UFOPA, Brazil), and the private university São Leopoldo Mandic (SLMANDIC, Brazil), which will provide medical and dental care to water-locked communities where services are extremely limited.
Integrated into the Brazilian Universal Health System (SUS), the hospital ship is a fully functional mobile teaching hospital. It is equipped with a hospital floor that includes medical suites and dental chairs, a bloodwork laboratory and instrument sterilization facilities to ensure safe, efficient care, as well as a storage area for supplies, medications, and other essential resources to support the healthcare team during expeditions. It also features living quarters to allow overnight stays in remote communities. Local teams will assist with care, meals, and navigation, while UFOPA and stakeholders handle community needs, and SLMANDIC manages logistics and recruitment. The UMB team will consist of two faculty and six dental students. The UMB students will play a crucial role performing dental examinations, treatments, and preventive services. To ensure effective communication and interaction with local communities, bilingual professionals will be present to bridge language barriers and facilitate communication.