Dental clinic on wheels takes preventative care and treatment to children of the Shomron.

During this time of terror, even a trip to the dentist can be fraught with danger. Shooting and bomb attacks on the roads leading from one community to the other are common and deadly. Parents may be unwilling to risk driving to a larger community for dental appointments with all of their children in the car together. Frequent road closures often make it impossible to keep the dental appointments once they are made. And in these situations the distance between communities multiplies both literally – because circuitous routes often must be taken, and emotionally – because a terror-filled drive just feels that much longer.

The Shomron Development Fund has established a Traveling Dental Clinic to serve the dental needs of the thousands of families living in the 33 communities that make up the Shomron Regional Council.

The clinic is approved by the Israeli Department of Health and has set the standard for future mobile community dental clinics.

The traveling dental clinic is the first of its kind in the Shomron (biblical Samaria). Staffed by dentists from Israel , the clinic provides low cost and below cost services to families. Additionally, the mobile clinic, in conjunction with the Department of Social Services, grants 50 families free dental care each year.

The clinic visits schools in our communities to provide preventative dental care to the over 5,000 school age-children living in our regional council. All the children are given educational material on proper dental hygiene as well as toothbrushes and toothpaste. The mobile clinic can also be found outside of community centers to care for their parents and grandparents. It has also been made available to visit other communities in the Shomron and has treated hundreds of Ethiopian immigrants living at an absorption center in Netanya.

We have already purchased a mobile dental unit (US $90,000) with the help of several generous donors. Operating the dental clinic is an expensive yet necessary prospect. Despite some government reimbursement, our operational deficit is $ 85,000 per year.

We require assistance with:

1)	Operational deficit	$ 85,000 /year
2)	Nitrous oxide system	5,000
3)	Digital x-ray machine + camera	7500

We also need to keep the unit stocked with supplies and educational materials. The vehicle and its expensive equipment requires insurance.