Report of Smile Action Project
4.0 18th-23rd August 2012
The Malaysia Smile Action Team Association has finally
completed its fourth project in Cambodia on 18th-23rd
August in 2012. The team consisted of 9 volunteers who are dentists and
assistants.
The kids could not benefit from healthy food people
give them unless they have good teeth to help eat it. In 2009, the Smile Action
Team was established and opened an opportunity for kids to have their teeth
fixed and reviewed.
This time, in 2012, we visited 8 childcare centers:
Two in Phnom Penh and six in Siem Reap. 444 children from FGA Child Care
center, Chay’s Children’ s home, Cambodian Development Organisation (CDO),
ACODO farm, Sunrise Children’s home, Khna Thmey Church, Angkor Orphan
Organisatin (AOO) and Di-El Korean Food Feeding Center were benefited from our
visits.
We taught all of these children basic oral hygiene and
showed them how to use a toothbrush. We also supply toothbrushes and toothpaste
in ev ery of our visit for the children. Meanwhile, we also
reviewed and did basic dental treatment for the children who need it, including
examinations, extractions, fillings and cleaning. Since they lack of education
on proper way to take care of teeth, most of the kids have terrible oral
problems – decayed permanent teeth at very young age, retained roots, thick
calculus, abscess and so on. The main reason for these problems is the lack of education
on proper teeth brushing technique. Another reason could be poverty to own and
change toothbrushes and toothpaste.
Before we arrived, the kids had to rely on practitioners operating in
town and they are expensive and for that, many of them just lived with dreadful
pain. Now we are here to provide necessary services for free, and that we use
the most hygienic methods with all our equipment is sterilized and safe. We
will, and hope to review the children every 6 months and we would like to see
the improvement in their oral hygiene.
We wish to improve the dental treatment flow in order
to maximize the process. Above all, we
need to have a center to arrange all these things- a center that allows more
dentists or volunteers to come and meet up for more actions done to the kids.
The Smile Action Project 5.0 will be held on 18th-22nd January 2013.
Prepared
by
Choy Kim Lee
蔡锦莉
Executive
Secretary 25th
August 2012
