The overseas volunteering trips provide a unique opportunity for UK dental professionals to work alongside local dentists and deliver much-needed dental care to some of the most under-served and isolated communities. Volunteers treat up to 150 people a day in schools, orphanages, rural villages, churches, community centres and areas where people are experiencing poverty.
Dentaid the Dental Charity has a long history of providing sustainable dental care overseas. Since it was founded in 1996, Dentaid has worked in more than 70 countries in some of the most remote communities in the world.
Alongside annual volunteering trips Dentaid provides support for local dental professionals all year round by sending equipment, funding outreach programmes and supporting oral health education programmes. Oral hygiene education is at the heart of the organisations volunteering trips. This is especially important in areas where sugary drinks and chewing sugar cane are common, but the links to tooth decay are still poorly understood.
Volunteers will play a crucial role in providing outreach clinics in areas where people have little or no access to dental care. Teams of eight-to-12 dental professionals including dentists, nurses, therapists and hygienists will treat up to 150 patients a day, with some patients walking for hours to access a clinic.
The teams will set up and deliver the clinics, including triaging patients, providing necessary aftercare and delivering oral health education presentations. As many of the villages don’t have access to electricity, the teams perform basic dentistry using portable equipment. During a typical two-week trip there will be 10–12 clinics, with every trip having a Dentaid trip leader responsible for the itinerary, working with local partners and ensuring everyone’s safety.
Paul Kearny, a previous volunteer, said, “The most honest thing I can say about our trip to Uganda is that I didn’t just find it rewarding; it completely reinvigorated my relationship with dentistry.
“If you need a reset, go on an overseas volunteering trip - it will put everything back into vivid perspective. Over nine days, our small team treated 1,349 patients which is a testament to the power of collaboration.”
After paying a £300 deposit to secure their place, all volunteers are asked to fundraise £2950 per trip which covers the costs of flights, accommodation, travel, meals on working days and the supplies required to provide free outreach dental care for thousands of patients.
For more information visit: https://www.dentaid.org/dentaid-overseas/volunteer-overseas/