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A few celebs teamed up with dentists, consultant orthodontists and other professionals in the marketing communications to put smiles on the faces of some under privileged Nigerians with flawed dentition who can’t afford a smile makeover.
Project Smile, is a complimentary smile makeover initiative founded by Amy Traore-Shumbusho, CEO, Smile360 for Nigerian youths who have suffered lost opportunities and stigmatised due to cases of flawed dentition; the celebs showed up at the dental practice to support the Project Smile cause of ‘giving great smile’ by serving as panellists in the assessment process to adjudge winners in the smile makeover contest.
Traore-Shumbusho said that its goal is to remind people that they have access to world-class dental care, right in their backyard. There is no purpose in flying to Turkey, India or other places to your dental work when you can do it locally.
“You will also be reducing the stress of going to a place you are unsure with all the risk factor. The technological advances in the oral industry and skilled dental practitioners make it possible for you to have the smile you’ve always dreamed of no matter, how much or little work needs to get done,” she said.
Meanwhile, the initiative is in its 7th season, Project Smile 7.0, kicked off September 16th 2019 with a call for entry which lasted for eight weeks. During this period, 226 candidates, each with a narrative of how a costly dental flaw that has deprived them of opportunities, entered for a chance to win the prize of a smile makeover in the bid to transform their dental configuration and realise the dream of a great smile. Out of this number 12 candidates were nominated out of which only one lucky winner would emerge.
It is pertinent to mention that project smile started about 8 years ago and a total of about 24 (Twenty-four) young men and women spread across the country have become beneficiaries since we started the initiative comprising of 7 seasons. About 90 percent of them have completed their smile makeover treatment.
According to Traore-Shumbusho, virtually all candidates who entered for the contest deserve a great smile. Nevertheless, the programme is designed to accommodate only one beneficiary.
She explained that the determination of this one beneficiary is a result of long and rigorous screening of entries that lasted for weeks, selection of nominees, clinical evaluation of each nominee and panel assessment of the entries and clinical evaluation report.
“We would love to accommodate more beneficiaries but due to limited funding at the moment we are only able to help a few people. Our vision is to have at least 20 beneficiaries each year. This is possible if we able to get partnerships and support from other organisations, prominent individuals who would be willing to adopt a smile,” said Traore-Shumbusho.
Also speaking Apara Akinsanmi, a dentist and project smile director said that the organisation is basically trying to give back to the community stating that everyone should have a contribution in this competitive world.
“We want to make sure everyone understand dentistry as not a pain department but where the pain is prevented and we are giving your smile a change,” he said.
ANTHONIA OBOKOH
