Discover our history

About TdB

Turma do Bem manages the largest volunteer dentistry programme in the world, with over 18,000 dentists working in 12 countries. The programme provides free dental care to low-income populations in conditions of social vulnerability and with serious oral problems, focusing on two main groups: young people aged 11 to 17 and women who are victims of gender violence and have had their teeth affected by the aggression. In 20 years, it has benefited more than 82,000 young people and 1,100 women.

The Organization has an innovative management model based on volunteering and characterized by easy replicability. The founder and volunteer president of the TdB, Dr. Fábio Bibancos, is internationally recognized as a Social Entrepreneur by the Schwab Foundation (www.schwabfoundation.org) and Ashoka (www.ashoka.org) for his work leading the organization. In addition, in 2011 the organization was awarded the Oral Health Prize in the Social Solidarity category for the work developed in Portugal, and in 2015 it was selected among 1,400 social organizations worldwide to integrate the first portfolio of Epic Foundation of institutions that invest in high social impact. In 2018, it won the Fundación Mapfre award for best social action in Spain.

Click here to access the Statute of Turma do Bem

OUR MISSION

Our mission is to change society’s perception of oral health and to alert dentists about the socio-environmental impact of their professional activity.

OUR VALUES

Do to others what we would do for our own child;
Carry out with aesthetics and joy;
Efficiency and transparency in management.

HOW TURMA DO BEM WAS BORN

In 1995, Dr. Fábio Bibancos wrote his first book, Um Sorriso Feliz para seu Filho (A Happy Smile for Your Child), focusing on the prevention of dental problems. During the book launch, he was invited to give lectures at private schools and later at public schools, where mothers showed the serious oral health situation of their children. In these places, dental prevention was no longer effective.

That was when Dr. Fábio decided to join 15 colleagues, and together they have started to offer free treatment for some cases in their clinics. Thus was born the innovative idea that has now become the largest network of specialized volunteering in the world: the Dentista do Bem.

In 2002, with a significant increase in the number of participating dentists, TdB was formalized and received certification from the Ministry of Justice as a Civil Society Organization of Public Interest (OSCIP).

OUR PROPOSALS

For society

to promote solutions for access to dental treatments.

For dentists

to value and mobilize professionals towards a new socio-environmental conduct.

For the business sector

to discuss ethical practices in the dental sector. To encourage low-cost products and services in order to become affordable. To inspire responsible behavior in other sectors.

For the government

to influence and change public policies.

OUR FOUNDER

Dr. Fábio Bibancos is a dental surgeon graduated from UNESP (São Paulo State University), specialist in Pediatric Dentistry and Orthodontics and Master in Collective Health, and is volunteer president of OSCIP Turma do Bem.

He is also the author of the books Um Sorriso Feliz para Seu Filho, A Guerra dos Mutans, Boca!, Sorrisos do Brasil, Sorrisos Insanos and O Pequeno Palácio do Sorriso.

He was elected Social Entrepreneur 2006 by the Schwab Foundation (linked to the World Economic Forum in Davos) and has been an Ashoka Fellow (a network of social entrepreneurs present in 65 countries) since 2007. Dr Fábio was also received by Pope Francis at the Vatican and also by the Queen of Spain in Madrid, who personally presented him with the Mapfre Foundation award for Best Initiative in Social Action for the work carried out worldwide.

Subscribe to the Fábio Bibancos YouTube channel to watch interviews, ask questions and hear exciting stories!

Accountability

Administrative Council

President
Dr. FÁBIO BIBANCOS

Advisors
ROSANA JUNQUEIRA MORALES
MICHELINE ALVES BATISTA
FABIO ERNESTO VAMPRÉ HUMBERG
MARCELO JOSÉ STRAZZERI BONECKER
FELIPE CIRENO TEOBALDO
CELSO ROCHA GRECCO
FLÁVIA MARIA PANETTA RICCA HUMBERG

Deputies
DOMINGOS RICCA NETO
SHEILA SAAD MADRID