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Leah, our Community oral health guide since 2017
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learning to problem solve dental equipment issues
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all set up ready to start dental treatment
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Bringing dental services to remote island
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Our helpers in the community
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Completed Kirakira Clinic building 2025
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Dental surgery in Kirakira dental clinic
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School teacher oral health training
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Kirakira Dental clinic start construction
| Summary: | Solomon Smiles was established in 2024 when the project joined Rotary, building on more than ten years of dental outreach in the Solomon Islands. The focus has since expanded from delivering outreach to working alongside provincial dental and health-promotion teams to strengthen local capacity, workforce development, prevention, data collection and appropriate infrastructure.
School outreach remains central, but the aim is for prevention, treatment and follow-up to continue between volunteer visits. Infrastructure supports this approach: outreach cannot replace a functioning year-round service. The Kirakira Dental Clinic is one example, providing the local team with a more reliable base for treatment while supporting outreach, visiting teams and future workforce growth. |
| Challenge: | Government dental clinics face severe equipment shortages, limiting the range and quality of care and making rural posts less attractive to dentists. Equipment also breaks down quickly because of limited maintenance capacity and harsh operating conditions. With a small workforce and limited access to continuing professional development, local dental teams are often focused on urgent pain relief and extractions. This leaves little capacity for prevention, data collection, service planning or development of locally relevant oral health education resources. |
| Solution: | Our volunteers work alongside provincial dental and health-promotion teams to deliver school outreach, prevention activities and data collection to support provincial oral health planning. Building on this, Solomon Smiles strengthens local services through well-equipped clinics, training in equipment maintenance and repair, and knowledge exchange between volunteers, universities and local teams. Together, these activities support locally relevant oral health resources, stronger professional relationships and more sustainable provincial oral health services. |
| Long term impact: | By building sustainable dental services and local capacity, Solomon Smiles aims to improve oral health outcomes across rural Solomon Islands. Stronger equipment maintenance, workforce development and preventive services will help expand care beyond urgent treatment. Ongoing data collection and analysis will help identify needs, measure impact and inform provincial and national policy and strategies to optimise the coverage and impact of limited oral health resources. Through knowledge sharing and stronger local systems, the project aims to support more sustainable oral health services over the long term. |
| Sponsored by: | Rotary Club of Mooloolaba, District 9620 |