Report on the activities carried out by 'Sonrisas' to promote oral health: the experience of a Canadian dental hygienist in the Dominican Republic.

Smiles Foundation is a non-profitable organization established in Canada as a sister foundation to the Dominican Fundacion para la Prevencion y la Salud Bucal de los Ninos "Sonrisas" the Dominican Republic, which provides free dental treatment and oral health education to underprivileged children. Its founder Elina Katsman, a Canadian dental hygienist embarked on this project in 1986, and started giving lectures in the small community of Samana along with two local nurses that she trained in the principles of oral hygiene and related primary health care. Today, the foundation runs eight dental clinics and five mobile units that serve remote areas and has benefited 1,723,119 people in total. The aim of this article was to report on the growth that Smiles Foundation has experienced to promote oral health among children and adults in the Dominican Republic including its activities and the results it has achieved up until 2005.