Summary: Dentsply Sirona and Smile Train were recognized with a 2024 Global Good Award for their partnership advancing global cleft care. Through funding, equipment donations, training, and oral health kits, they empower local professionals and improve patient outcomes, leveraging digital treatment protocols to make cleft care more accessible and effective worldwide.

Two Key Takeaways:

  • Dentsply Sirona and Smile Train’s collaboration enhances global cleft care through training, equipment, and sustainable resources.
  • Their efforts focus on empowering local practitioners and using digital workflows, ensuring more accurate, high-quality treatment and improving patient outcomes on an international scale.

Dentsply Sirona and its partner Smile Train were announced as bronze winners of the 2024 Global Good Awards in the Community Partnership category. The companies were recognized for the joint work they have done to advance access and quality of cleft care for patients in need.

“Together with Smile Train, we have supported more than 3,800 life-changing cleft surgeries to patients in 15 countries over the last three years. We are incredibly proud of what we have achieved so far and delighted that our partnership has received recognition at the Global Good Awards,” said Andrea Frohning, senior vice president, chief human resources officer at Dentsply Sirona. “This motivates everyone at Dentsply Sirona to keep up the great work and go beyond for those in need.”

Supporting Local Partnerships

Dentsply Sirona continues to support Smile Train, the world’s largest cleft-focused organization, starting a local partnership with Indian treatment centers, by providing funding for training for Smile Train partner doctors, equipment donations to three Smile Train partner centers, and donating oral health kits for cleft patients.

Recently in New Delhi, India, the company completed its second Advanced Training: Digitalization in Cleft Orthodontics course, educating 15 Smile Train partner doctors representing India, Nigeria, the Philippines, and Thailand on how to adopt the global digital cleft treatment protocols. The program featured training on digital workflows in presurgical orthopedics, and mixed and permanent dentition as well as hands-on workshops across three stages of treatment. This training program was launched by Smile Train and Dentsply Sirona with dental professionals in Colombia earlier this year.

READ MORE: Dentsply Sirona Promotes Cleft Awareness and Prevention

Equipment Donations to Improve Care

The equipment donated by Dentsply Sirona consists of two Primescan intraoral scanners, which will go to the Amandeep Healthcare and Ganga Medical Centre & Hospitals and one additional Primescan scanner, one Primeprint Solution 3D printer and one Axeos CBCT machine, which will go to the Shweta Dental Clinic. The donation also included sponsoring Smile Train training sessions that will empower more doctors to deliver high-quality digital cleft care to their communities.

Additionally, the Dentsply Sirona APAC leadership team prepared 150 oral health kits, each which include a sustainable toothbrush, toothpaste, a timer, floss, an educational flyer on oral health best practices as well as a personalized “Get Well” card prepared by Dentsply Sirona employees. Each of the three Indian Smile Train Partner Centers received 50 of these kits for their patients.

Long-Term Commitment and Sustainability

Dentsply Sirona’s ongoing support of Smile Train is part of the company’s sustainability strategy, “BEYOND: Taking action for a brighter world”, of which one focus is to increase access to healthcare in underserved communities. In 2021, Dentsply Sirona entered a five-year partnership with Smile Train to advance the future of cleft care and empower local medical professionals to deliver essential cleft care to their own communities. In 2023, Smile Train and the FDI World Dental Federation launched, with Dentsply Sirona’s support, global standard protocols for digitalized cleft treatment, designed to improve the accuracy and efficacy of current treatments. To aid adoption, the partners also created a Digital Dentistry in Cleft Care MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) on how to utilize the protocols effectively.

“From providing high-quality cleft care to thousands of children around the world to empowering doctors to utilize leading digital technologies in their communities, our partnership with Dentsply Sirona is transforming cleft care globally,” said Mamta Carroll, Smile Train’s senior vice president and regional director for Asia. “It is fantastic to see our partnership come to life in different corners of the world, and I am delighted that our joint work has been recognized by the Global Good Awards.”

Photo courtesy of Dentsply Sirona