Help me, help Cambodians in Dental need! 🦷

In March 2023, I qualified as a dental nurse, after leaving my 13 year career as cabin crew. During the pandemic I volunteered with St John’s Ambulance and realised I wanted a career where I could make a real difference to others by helping and supporting people in need.

With my new knowledge and skills, I decided to join Dentaid and volunteer two weeks of my own time, to help others in desperate need within Cambodia. A once in a lifetime and life changing experience!

Week One

During my first week in Cambodia, I will be assisting One 2 One, a non-profit charity, by providing dental care to those who need it within deaf schools. These children will present with full mouth decay and desperately need our help. One 2 One do have a website if you fancy taking a look.

Week Two

This week will see us travelling to remote communities, on our own as a small team of 12, to provide not only dental treatment but also oral education. Primarily we will be running a sealant program to remove and freeze any existing decay. Preventative non invasive treatment, as well as oral hygiene education, has proven to work well here, where children treated 10+ years ago are visiting with no further decay! So what we do here is really making a huge difference to these children’s lives and their future health!

Facts:

- The children we’ll be treating are so poor that they don’t even own a toothbrush, let alone toothpaste and they most definitely haven’t seen a dentist before! We will be providing each child with a brand new toothbrush!!!

- In Cambodia there is estimated to be 1 dentist per every 5000 people!!!

- Unfortunately events over the last century have taken a massive toll on the country, leaving many without access to affordable basic services, including dental care.

The trip will certainly be no walk in the park. I will be working hard to treat and help as many people as possible alongside other nurses and dentists.

I have been following Dentaid for some time and it was an easy decision to join their team, as I really value their ethics. Dentaid not only run outreach clinics abroad, but also here in the UK for those who need it, especially the homeless who have just as much right to safe dental care as we do. I plan to volunteer in the UK too!

The money I raise does cover the cost of my trip, however, it also covers essential resources needed to actually run these clinics. Without volunteers, none of these clinics would be possible.

Please ask if you have any questions about me or any part of my trip and thank you, from the bottom of my heart for your support! It honestly means the world to be able to do something as life changing as this trip!