The Smile Support Society visits a local school to share dental kits with students. Credit: Courtesy of The Smile Support Society
Language barriers can pose a significant obstacle to accessing essential oral care, making it difficult for individuals with limited English proficiency to connect with the resources they need.
To help overcome this barrier, the Smile Support Society will host “Creating Smiles Across Cultures” Monday at 6 p.m. in Postle Hall to reduce language-based barriers in oral healthcare by developing multilingual oral health brochures for local dental offices.
The Smile Support Society is a student-led organization that focuses on promoting oral health awareness through education, outreach and service. In partnership with various cultural organizations on campus, students plan to translate a general oral health information brochure into 10 different languages to be distributed to local dental offices.
The event marks the culmination of weeks of collaboration and preparation.
Earlier in the month, the organization sent the English-language brochure to an assortment of cultural organizations to translate into their respective languages. After collecting and verifying the translations, members compiled the materials in preparation for Monday’s event, where students will design and assemble the finalized brochures featuring translated text and culturally relevant visuals.
“The inspiration for this [event] actually came from a couple of us working in dental offices in Columbus,” Youcef Hennaoui, a third-year in biology and president of The Smile Support Society, said. “We noticed that sometimes doctors and the clinical staff couldn’t even communicate the patient’s needs. Obviously living in Columbus, we see patients that speak a variety of different languages who come in, and we aren’t really able to communicate the best treatment option for them.”
This issue can dissuade people from seeking necessary oral healthcare, Mazin Ibrahim, a second-year in biology and service committee chair of The Smile Support Society, said.
“For many refugees or migrants who come here, dental care is often overlooked. It’s hard for them to get into the routine of getting dental care,” Ibrahim said. “It may seem like a foreign concept or even difficult for them to get in there, especially with the prices and not being able to communicate or understand what [healthcare professionals] are saying.”
Ibrahim also said that this project will help refugees and migrants gain the confidence to get the care they need and deserve.
Even when health professionals are able to examine patients, language gaps can still hinder effective care, Hennaoui said.
“Health information and diagnoses that you get from doctors are only effective if you understand what it means. In Columbus, we have a large group of diverse communities but sometimes when they go to dental offices, most of the instructions are in English or use verbiage that isn’t basic enough for someone that’s learning English to understand,” Hennaoui said. “That type of discrepancy creates a gap in care.”
To address this, the group’s multilingual brochures will offer clear, accessible oral health information for patients of all language backgrounds.
Despite the focus on translation, volunteers don’t need to speak another language to participate.
“Students from any major or background can come, even if they don’t speak another language,” Hennaoui said. “A big part of this is designing, decorating, organizing and just the overall community connectedness that we’re going to have.”
Volunteers are encouraged to be creative with their brochures, he said.
“I’m looking forward to seeing students bring their culture in with the designs,” Hennaoui said. “Oftentimes with health brochures, it’s kind of boring and straight to the point. When you combine art, culture and service, it becomes something more interesting.”
The event will allow students to make a direct and tangible impact in their communities, Muhseen Choudhury, a second-year in health sciences and outreach chair of The Smile Support Society, said.
“We’ll be able to make change firsthand and hand out brochures to actually help somebody that needs it,” said Choudhury.
With this event, the Smile Support Society aims to create a cascading effect of change, Hennaoui said.
“If we even help one person, I think our event is a success. Just trying to bridge that gap in language communication is our overall goal,” Hennaoui said. “A small event like this that was organized by students can lead to a domino effect. Even though we might not have the most money or the most connections, we can make a difference in our community.”
