The Trudi Birger Dental Clinic’s Dental Volunteers for Israel program operates a free dental clinic in Jerusalem for disadvantaged children and youth-at-risk aged 5-18. The Jerusalem Municipality’s Welfare Services decides who, among the approximately 200,000 children in Jerusalem living below the poverty level are eligible for dental treatment at DVI. Recently, the clinic has also started helping the other forgotten children of Jerusalem – Youth at Risk, street kids and those in shelters. All these children then receive a full range of preventative and restorative dentistry. Most importantly, these children and their families receive this comprehensive oral hygiene program at no cost.

Mrs Trudi Birger, a holocaust survivor, who saw children’s care as her will in life, established DVI in 1980. The clinic is manned by dentists from around the world who volunteer for periods of 1 – 4 weeks. During the year 2007, 121 dentists from over 20 countries volunteered at the clinic. With current resources, the clinic is able to treat an average of 100-150 children per day, providing 12,000 treatments a year.

The clinic contains six dental workstations, an X-ray unit, and the Donal Berman Preventative Oral Health Care Unit where children receive oral hygiene education. The children can thereby receive a full range of preventative and restorative dentistry. Most importantly, this comprehensive oral hygiene program is provided at no charge.