Misheel Kids Foundation

Dental care in remote areas of Mongolia

Dental Treks

The Dental Treks are a main pillar of the Misheel Kids Foundation. In addition to providing dental care to disadvantaged children in the capital city of Ulaanbaatar, they also allow us to reach and provide dental care to rural children in areas that are often difficult to access. In 2018, Misheel Kids Foundation undertook its first Dental Trek – a 2000-kilometer journey with a mobile dental team to the reindeer nomads, the Tsaatan, in northern Mongolia.

Since then, the Foundation has conducted two Dental Treks annually to remote regions of Mongolia. With its four mobile units, the team treats more than 60 children per day on these missions. The journeys of several thousand kilometers, the assembly and disassembly of the equipment and the treatment of the patients under constantly changing and difficult conditions demand a lot from the team. But the gratitude that comes back from the people is great, makes us incredibly happy and gives us the motivation for the coming missions. The people living around the settlements take all the hurdles to bring their children to our treatment center. Be it by car, motorcycle or on horseback.

The future of Dental Treks

Ensuring continuity

Mobile treatments range from checkups and dental cleanings to root canal treatments, fillings and extractions. For the upcoming treks, the team will benefit from the experience gained from the treks already carried out. The work can thus be continuously professionalized and expanded. In addition to the treatments, the dentists on the road focus on oral hygiene instructions and educational work on the subject of healthy nutrition in order to prevent future dental damage as far as possible.

Amount of treated patients during the Dental Treks according their respective year

Dental Trek 2018 - 90 patients treated - pilot project

Dental Trek 2019 - 349 patients treated

Dental Trek 2020 - 728 patients treated - impaired by the Covid-19 pandemic

Dental Treks 2021 - 2354 patients treated - 2 Treks

Dental Treks 2022 - 2334 patients treated - 2 Treks

Dental Treks 2023 - 2009 patients treated - 2 Treks

Dental Treks 2024 - 938 patients treated - 1 Trek

Planning Dental Treks

What it takes

To finance the Mobile Dental Treks, we rely on support for logistics, accommodation, vehicles and the salaries of local dentists. Each dental trek, which involves up to 15 people, lasts between 14 and 20 days. In addition to the dentists, there is a translator and two to three drivers.

Transportation, gasoline and food must be organized and financed for the entire trip, as well as hotel rooms in Ulaanbaatar for foreign dentists. We receive support from the Hotel Kempinski Khan Palace Ulaanbaatar for accommodation and from the MSM Group LLC, which provides us with a vehicle on each trip. Since the beginning of the Dental Treks, the Swiss dentist Dr. Jacques Schultheiss from Basel (Smile Clinix) has supported us in our mobile missions.