Over 1000 children from foster homes will receive professional dental prophylaxis from more than 150 teachers and medical students

The project “Smile!” of the Bulgarian Dental Association and the student organisation of young dentists was awarded late last night with the grand prize of UniCredit Bulbank in the competition “Development Marketplace” of the World Bank and the Ministry of Education and Science.

The initiative “Smile!” embraces prophylaxis and teaching the main rules of oral health to over 1000 children from foster homes in Bulgaria. Over 150 teachers and final year students of dental medicine will take part in the project. UniCredit Bulbank commits itself with a grant for the whole project worth $20 000 which will be used for the purchase of specialized dental instruments, means of prophylaxis for the children and other.

“The children from the foster homes have serious dental problems. For more than 20 years there is no clear and precise epidemiological picture of the dental illnesses of children and even more for of the children which are deprived from parental care. The purpose of the project is that all children receive a dental check and to be trained in the rules of oral health, to better their health in general with the support of the teachers and to establish solid measures for prophylaxis on national level”, said Dr. Nikolai Sharkov, chairman of the Bulgarian Dental Association.

“We took into consideration a lot of worthy projects. We were looking for a reasonable, effective, beneficial, innovative idea to back up with a strong social engagement, an idea that would have a long-term value. And what is better than children smiling and smiling with beautiful and healthy smiles”, said Levon Hapartzoumian, CEO of UniCredit Bulbank at the awarding ceremony

UniCredit Bulbank is general partner of the initiative of the World Bank for granting funds to projects for stimulating the youth employment and for encouragement of the practical orientation of the education. Over 200 projects were competing in the contest under the motto “Working ideas for a working future”. A competent jury which consisted out of experts from the World Bank, the Ministry of Education and Science, employer organisations, business associations and economic research centres conducted a full review of the projects. 15 finalists were present in front of the jury yesterday. 8 of them received grants from the World Bank and the partners of the competition. The Bulgarian Dental Association and the young dentists also received the informal award for most attractive project presentation which finished a performance of the most famous singer among the dentists – Kotseto Kalki.