7 News Belize

The History Of Dentistry In Belize
posted (November 29, 2011)
When you hear about a book named "My Reflections On Dentistry in Belize" - if you're not a dentist you might think it's not all that interesting.

But, Dr. Chris Bennett's first book is surprising for its sweep and the social gems he turns up as he tells about his nearly 40 years in Belize;s dental profession.

He launched the book today and told us that Dental Health has significantly improved since he first returned to Belize in 1973:..

Dr. Chris Bennett, Dentist
"It's a reflection, so it's really highlighting the experiences of providing dental care, the experiences of the attitude of the population to dental disease and dental treatment and people who have been around know that when I came back to Belize in 1973, we started the whole program of turning the attitude around, where people were demanding extractions. And so people who have been around from then would be interesting in seeing the book and see exactly how the changes went about, and they know there have been changes because we have published surveys locally and internationally to show the attitude towards dental disease and dental treatment has turned around."

"The book highlights what happens when we change attitudes, so again you read the book and you say oh that is a way to change attitude. So you can apply that to your way of life or to any program. And so basically what happened is that when I came to Belize in 1973, there was a great demand for taking out teeth and people were taking out teeth like having teeth was getting out of style. In fact a person actually told me, if you want to be a good dentist in Belize you have to be able to take out teeth make a nice denture and have a little piece of gold filling in the front."

"If you look at the surveys when we first did the survey in Belmopan and the latest we did in 1989, you see a drastic difference in the amount of care, let's say the 12 year old. We trend from about 10 to now about 3 decay teeth, so all these results encourage our personnel in the dental department to continue with the program."

No dental survey has been conducted since 1989. Dr. Bennett's book is available for 35 dollars.

Home | Archives | Downloads/Podcasts | Advertise | Contact Us

7 News Belize