AUGUSTA, Maine - A dentist with a private practice in Augusta is heading to Belarus this spring to train pediatricians on preventing dental problems in young children.
Jonathan Shenkin, who's also a clinical associate professor at Boston University, was named a Fulbright Scholar in global and public health.
Shenkin says the grant will allow him to spend two weeks in the Eastern European country to work with a group pediatricians and provide them with the basic tools they need to educate parents about how to prevent dental problems in their children.
"The country of Belarus is interested in reducing disease levels among children," Shenkin says. "They feel they have an adequate supply of dental care provided to children already, and they really need to focus on, not drilling teeth, but on reducing the level of disease before that is even required."
Shenkin says he feels it's unfortunate that Maine has chosen the path of drilling and treatment, rather than prevention, for children.
It turns out that Shenkin's family moved to the U.S. from Minsk in Belarus. He says he'll be the only person in his family to have returned to Belarus since they moved here 120 years ago.
