Joyce Gitangu
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Dr. Joyce Gitangu is a Kenyan-American pediatric dentist and public-health advocate transforming children’s oral care in East Africa. After earning her DMD from Tufts University (2008) and an MPH in Health Policy from Harvard (2012), she returned to Nairobi to launch Dental Smiles for Kids in 2014. The colourful, safari-themed clinic integrates behaviour-guided dentistry with nutrition counselling, fluoride-varnish stations, and parent coaching, reducing repeat-treatment rates by 40 percent in its first decade.
To widen reach, Gitangu created the SmileMobile, a solar-powered van that delivers sealants and caries-risk screenings to 60 primary schools each term and has examined 48,000 pupils across four counties. In 2023 she introduced Kenya’s first teledentistry platform for paediatric follow-ups, cutting rural travel costs and doubling continuity of care. Her research on sugar-tax policy and early-childhood caries appears in the International Journal of Paediatric Dentistry, and she co-authored the 2025 Ministry of Health guidelines on school-based oral-health programmes.
Honoured among Business Daily’s Top 40 Under 40 Women (2019), Gitangu now chairs the Kenya Dental Association’s Prevention Taskforce, mentors young clinicians through the Harvard Alumni Healthcare Network, and partners with local farmers to add vitamin-rich snacks to school feeding schemes, championing a holistic vision where every child can chew, speak, and smile with confidence.