Shannon Flack Cambodia

I had the best time on the trip. I really want to continue doing more work like this in the future and I’d recommend it to anyone no matter what your role is.

In terms of the treatment we were providing, I think it really varies depending on the location that you’re volunteering at. We were mainly doing preventative things, There was obviously more invasive stuff going on as well, but I’ve just heard that it’s less than in other places.

The educational side of things is so important as well because a lot of them actually don’t have toothbrushes, toothpaste.

You’re working in quite like a makeshift clinical setting. For the first week, we were in a church hall that had been converted, using little mobile units. For the second week, we were literally using things like school desks to work on.

One thing I would say you need to be prepared for is the lack of translation between yourself and the patient. A lot of patients, they don’t speak English, nor should we expect them to.

For the first week, we had students who come in and translate for us and that was so useful. And it was also really cool for us too, because they were dental students, so we were kind of all sharing knowledge. The second week, we didn’t have the students with us, so translation was so minimal.

I think it was one of the best things I’ve done in my career so far. If you’re thinking of volunteering or doing anything similar, go for it!