It looks like a normal dental clinic from the outside, but, within, the future of Belize's oral hygienists is starting to take shape under the wing of Dr Osbert Usher, a Dental Surgeon who's been practicing for over 41 years. He is the founder of Magazine Dental Academy, a fully self - funded institution formed to instruct and guide students towards a certification in oral hygiene. Jomarie Lanza visited the academy today and here's what she saw.
The ratio of dentists to patients in Belize, is one of the major reasons why many are unable to maintain proper dental and oral care. Seeing this, and acknowledging the long term risks this can have on one's overall health, it motivated Dr Osbert Usher to pursue a solution.
Dr Osbert Usher, Dental Surgeon
"Well during my 41 years I have noticed that in Belize we have a lot of dental problems we encounter kids, adults with gum diseases, caries, tooth decay we find that 99% of our patients that come in to see us are with some level of gum disease and cavities so as we get older patients we find them with bigger cavities we find them with missing teeth and once we have missing teeth we end up with problems."
"And often times when we have problems with lets say our kidneys we do not do a relationship with the oral cavity, the oral cavity being the largest opening to the inside of your body and that allows if we have microorganisms living in our mouth, which normal is but if it gets excessive then it causes you these problems."
Usher's plan to tackle this persistent public health concern connects to a lifelong dream of his. He's opened a dental academy that can cater to 25 students at a time, and where they will spend the 12 months becoming oral hygienists.
Isabel Bennett Moody, Nurse Administrator & Educator
"It is an exciting journey for Magazine Dental Academy, the concept of the school was launched 2 years ago, the infrastructure and etc and now we are at the point of implementing the program. It is a 12 month program and I am the Dean here at the school and my responsibility is to definitely look at academic rigor for the program and ensure that our curriculum is evidence based and definitely to support the president Doctor Osbert Usher as well as the faculty, staff and the students."
"This is exciting for several reasons. Why? Because Belize is a small country. Our population is 400k plus but we only have 79 dentists in country which therefore means that the demands for dental care would be very low or I should say it is not as impactful as it should be, generally because of the expense of dental care persons tend to not come to the dentist and so what this program will do it will provide the population with the dental hygienists or oral hygienists as they will be certified, the be able to go out and teach persons about oral health. When the population is educated about better oral health we will see a decrease in the overall issues of general health right so whoever decides to enroll in the program will be graduating as an oral hygienist which is an affiliate professional in the dental field."
The institution is fully equipped with state of the art technology, dental equipment, and all the essential tools needed for practical and hands-on learning. But Usher won't be doing it alone, they also have a full faculty on staff, made up of dentists, a nutritionist and other professionals.
Dr Osbert Usher, Dental Surgeon
"We have a group of teachers that will permanently be here, and then we have individuals that will be coming in on a timely basis."
"With respect to our accreditation we are doing that. We are in the process of getting accreditation from San Carlos University in Guatemala and from a university in Minnesota. We are in progress doing that with respect to the classes, we will be doing classes as of 9:00 in the morning until 12:00 from 1-5 Monday to Thursday. Logistics, we have set up ourselves with lots of digital implements that we will be using as teaching implements. We will be utilizing every possible teaching methodology digitally in our clinic so we will be getting the latest technology with everything. We will be using the interactive flat panels where we can put in a program and teach that program through the interactive flat panel. We have facilities to be online, we have several cameras that will be focusing on different aspects where it is necessary so we are ready."
"We want to make this universal, the individuals that come out of high school and have good grades in biology we will accept that individual, the individual that is a dental assistant at this stage, probably working with other dentists we will accept them likewise, individuals that are truly committed to dentistry knowing and showing us because we will be having interviews, showing us their real commitment to oral health care these are the students we are looking for. We want commitment to this this is not I should say, this is a career opportunity that will serve them for a lifetime it is a rewarding career as there is lots of demand there is lots of necessity here in Belize."
It's a major opportunity for those with an interest in the dentistry, and Usher says it's a worthwhile investment:
Dr Osbert Usher, Dental Surgeon
"It isn't a cheap venture, it is a costly venture, we are thinking that it will be between the ranges of 15- 20- $25,000, but an average would be about $20,000 for the year. We would be asking I guess $5000 deposit and then we break down the other 11 months of 12 months in equal portions which would be around $1200 a month but they will enjoy not only the aspect of receiving a good education they will be getting eventually a certificate in oral health that they will be able to work with other individuals, work under the supervisions of dentists and getting a good pay I believe that within 2 years the recuperation of the money they spent in getting their education would be recuperated within that 2 years."
"There is no school in Guatemala, there is no school in the entire Central America that does this so we would want to attract individuals from even Central American countries. I am not certain of South American but certainly in Central America there is nothing like this."
"They will be getting very personalized training, they will be getting very personalized supervision and like I mentioned before the supervision will not only be in the laboratory system or portion of the building but it will be likewise in the clinical aspect they attending to each other and then eventually ending up attending to students from a high school, when they come out from here they would be attending to at least lets say 75 students before they leave here so their experience will be great by the time they go out by the time our graduation ceremony comes around."
Usher's vision for the next 5 years is that they will have at least 100 certified oral health providers in Belize. The Academy will open in April 2026.
For those who want to learn more about the academy and how to apply can contact the school at 656-0967 & 656-0976.
