Smile Action Project 4.0 Report

Report of Smile Action Project 4.0 18^th-23^rd August 2012

The Malaysia Smile Action Team Association has finally completed its fourth project in Cambodia on 18^th-23^rd 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                                                                                                        25^th August 2012