Wednesday 24 October 2012

International University Dental Clinic


CamKids funds the cost for orphanages and other NGOs to take children to the International University (IU) Dental Clinic, to receive basic dental treatment. The treatment is provided by dental students under the supervision of senior dentists.  For the past three months, only children who actually needed some treatment were brought to the clinic.  A small team of dental students and a dentist were also sent to the orphanage or organization first, to screen the children - so that not all children needed to go to IU.  Dental health education and tooth brushing instruction was also given at the organisations and tooth brushes were given to the children who did not need  to go to the clinic. 

Treatment provided at IU includes: relief from pain and infection (by doing extractions and in some cases basic root canal treatment); prevention (sealing the molar teeth and applying fluoride to prevent decay; restorations (in permanent teeth and also some primary teeth in order to maintain the space for the adult teeth to come through); dental health education (using a dental tooth model and a flip chart to demonstrate correct oral hygiene); and fluoride vanish to strengthen the teeth. In the time we have been running this program, we have seen a great improvement in the oral health of the children

Below is a personal story from one of the children, who goes to school at the Who Will Children's Village school, which was also built by CamKids.
Sreynich’s story: 
My name is Sreynich. I am 11 years old. I am from Kompong Trolarge district, Kompong Chhnang province. I have a young sister and we live with our grandparents because our parents were divorced when I was in grade one. Now I am in grade five and am the number one student in my class. I want to be an English teacher in the future. Everyday I go to study English at the ‘Who Will’ organization because they are near my house and lessons are free. My teeth looked so bad and I was shy to talk to other people or my friends. When I looked in the mirror it made me sad to see my front teeth. Today my teacher brought me to the clinic to get my teeth fixed. I was so happy when they finished the treatment as it looks much better than before. I would like to say thank you to the dentist and to CamKids for treating my teeth and giving me some toothpaste and a toothbrush.

No comments: