OHFAR Puts Focus on Pediatric Dentistry in Armenia

The World Dental Federation (FDI) has designated March 20 and OHFAR members wanted to take advantage of the occasion this year. “Our goal was to bring this campaign to Armenia,” Sirakian said, calling it Jpitor (Smiling Day) and as such, on that day, visiting oral surgeons and dentists went to the school in the village of Akner in Syunik. There they held a dental clinic and also showed the children, their parents and teachers, how to brush and floss and urged the parents to enforce a strict brushing regimen at home.

At the event, the Akner school principal thanked the organization, noting that on that day OHFAR specialists had treated 127 children and treated them with more than 450 fillings.

The prevalence of cavities among children needs to be a top priority, all the speakers noted.

Sirakian explained that it is not just the scarcity of dentists that is the problem; few adults are concerned with children brushing their teeth. While parents know basic hygiene, the speakers said, fewer understand the full preventative benefits of daily flossing or fluoride rinses.

Another reason for pediatric cavities is diet.

“One of the reasons is that our Armenian children love sweets,” he said, emphasizing that “oral disease has far-reaching consequences that go far beyond the mouth, affecting nutrition, education, self-esteem, overall health and even national productivity.”

“This is compounded by outdated equipment and uneven distribution of dental practices, most of which are concentrated in the capital city of Yerevan,” he said.

Currently there are no dental health policy campaigns by the government or any gathering of data.

“We formed the OHFAR with the goal of helping implement all of the above,” Sirakian said.

On the Ground in Rural Armenia

OHFAR President Dr. Berdj Kiladjian, one of the founding members of AIDA, spoke next.

Harkening back to AIDA’s formation, he said, “We all started to work together to see how we could help.”

AIDA members for the past couple of years made mission trips to Armenia for brief periods, visiting rural dental offices where they would see patients.

However, Kiladjian said, upon their return, the members realized that the need was far greater than what they could provide in such short visits.

“We realized it’s helping but it’s not even a drop in the bucket. I thought if we are going to make a difference, we have to have a bigger presence and a clinic that is staffed by local dentists so we can provide continuous care,” he said.

Previously, the group had focused much of their attention on Artsakh, where speakers said residents had the lowest level of dental care. The group had opened free dental clinics in Shushi, Hadrut, Martakert and Martuni. “Then we decided to have a mobile clinic that would take us to the villages,” Kiladjian said.

Of course with the war and eventual loss of Artsakh, the efforts there stopped.

Kiladjian noted, “The best way to make an impact is to start treating children. If we really build a solid foundation, that’s how we can build the country.”

In 2014 they decided to concentrate on children, so that they could build a lifetime of good dental hygiene.

“We focused on children and it started to pay off,” Kiladjian said. “We saw incredible amounts of results.”

The group in Artsakh offered more than 160,000 free dental visits, serving more than 10,000 children. Of course, all operations there ceased in 2023, after the takeover by Azerbaijan.

They had to leave everything, including their mobile dental clinic.

Next to speak was Dr. Arnold Weiss, with both Kiladjian and Sirakian offering profuse praise. Weiss, Kiladjian said, frequently accompanied him there.

Weiss has “become an invaluable part of our mission, teaching our dentists not only clinical skills but behavior management techniques, all without speaking a word of Armenian. His dedication is truly unmatched,” Sirakian said.

In his comments, Weiss noted that in the past year alone, he had visited Armenia four times to make sure dentists there have acquired the highest skillsets.

Weiss, added, “I feel like it’s my second home.”

He showed a slide presentation about the group’s work in rural Armenia, explaining the group’s approach to pediatric dentistry

Adamnabus Mobile Clinic

OHFAR has five objectives: teaching, advocacy, care for children, research, advocacy and prevention. All these goals require reaching the rural clients, hence their mobile clinic, Weiss said.

In 2025, OHFAR launched its mobile clinic, called Adamnabus, a bus outfitted with state-of-the-art treatment and data collection. Individuals and municipalities interested in receiving the services of Adamnabus in the provinces can contact the organization on its website and leave a request for a visit.

“Our objective is to have zero children with untreated tooth decay by age 15,” Weiss said. “We want to make oral health a top national priority. It is not a priority at all now among the organizations of the garment and even among physicians.”

The bulk of the money for the retrofitted bus was mostly raised in 2023, at a gala in Lyon, France, with the participation of the municipality, the local Armenian dental association, AIDA, Rotary International, Alan K. and Isabelle DerKazarian, the Armenian Canadian Medical Association of Ontario and Dr. Harmik Minassian.

The research component of OHFAR is gathering dental information and statistics, to “go to the government and the ministries” “so that we can take that data … and put it all together so we can go to the government and say this is a problem for thousands of children,” Weiss said.

To that end, the organization is working toward creating a software called Adamnasoft to collect data on the state of pediatric dental care in the country for submission to the government with an eye toward the creation and implementation a national dental policy.

Weiss said he has given five lectures to medical specialists, spreading awareness about the importance of dental care, especially among children, and how it pertains to general health.

“By the time they [children] go to school, there is a lot of decay already,” Weiss said. “Prevention is very important to teach the children but also the parents and teachers. Dental disease is 100-percent preventable.”

The organization, Weiss noted, is also offering free dental care in other villages in Syunik with Adamanabus, as well as Goris.

He stressed that dental health should be a component of the school day. “We want a comprehensive school-based oral health program to get teachers and everyone involved so that when we leave, they have tools so they can go ahead and repeat it,” Weiss said.

One other OHFAR board member, Dr. Vicken Ohannessian, a medical doctor specializing in public health, offered his comments remotely. Originally, from Lyon, he was speaking from Yerevan, where he has lived since 2022. “After the war, I decided to build our country, to improve our nation and to contribute to the health system improvement in Armenia, directly on the ground,” he said.

Weiss praised Ohannessian’s efforts for amplifying the importance of pediatric dental care in overall health of children.

Currently the organization has a brick-and-mortar clinic at the Pyunik Center for Disabled Children and employs a staff of three there.

Sirakian noted after the event that many from the Boston area are helping with the efforts in Armenia, including George Vosgerichian and orthodontist Alex Bejian, who loaded his suitcase with the tools of his trade for a recent visit.

Going forward, Sirakian said that OHFAR plans on adding more mobile bus clinics. Further events are planned for Yerevan and Lyon in September and December.

Along with the dental program at the Armenian Cultural Foundation, guests were treated to a musical performance by violinist Sofya Vardanyan and pianist Lilit Karapetian-Shougarian performing works by J.S. Bach, W.A. Mozart, and Komitas.

To learn more about or donate to OHFAR, visit https://ohfar.am/ or https://www.instagram.com/ohfar_kids/