The Rotary Cambodia Dental Team, led by Narooma dentist and Rotarian Charmaine White, has returned after a most successful two weeks.
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The team treated children from families living on the rubbish dumps around Cambodia’s capital Phnom Penh as well as from a local orphanage.
“The problem is huge,” she said. “Our main task was to get these children out of pain.”
“There’s a school on the dump and we accessed kids through the school.
“It’s interesting because there was some fear that extracting teeth could lead to brain damage, but we spoke with families at a parent information session and explained that was not the case.”
They treated over 200 children with some needing two or three appointments.
“That would equate to about $72,000 worth of work in Australia,” she said.
Ms White said her team was fortunate in being able to use a dental clinic set up by dentist Robert Ogle as well as use his “wonderful translation staff”.
This was a joint project between RAISE Cambodia who coordinated contacts within Phnom Penh, Cambodia World Family who provided the dental clinic, and Rotary Australia World Community Service (RAWCS) who provided the working team.
Ms White said they greatly appreciated the generosity of Narooma people who raised over $4,000 for the project.
“We used this to buy disposable things like needles, anaesthetics, filling material, gauze, as well as tuk tuk rides,” she said.
“We would bring the kids in from school in tuk tuks as well as provide them with breakfast the first week.”
The team also consisted of Narooma dental assistant Sharon Holcombe, Rotarian and Gold Coast dental hygienist Sharyn Taghoade, and German dentist Marlene Schulz. All team members paid their own airfares and living expenses.
As a RAWCS project, it was organised in association with the Rotary Club of Phnom Penh.
Ms White said she is already planning a return trip to Cambodia, this time to work with adults in the provinces outside of Phnom Penh who have never had access to any dental treatment.
