Dentistry students value service in Brazil & South Pacific

Each summer, University of Saskatchewan students from many colleges and disciplines travel the world, learning as they go and sharing what they know. This past summer, students from the College of Dentistry did just that – and here, they share their stories and photographs.

Dentistry student Kristi Perry has fun helping a young patient during her recent service in Tonga and Western Samoa. Below, U of S students visiting and working in Brazil surround their ‘patient’, supervising Brazilian dentist Dr. Vitor Pacheco. The students are, from left, Dan Deheshi, Theresa Doan, American dentistry student Ben Geller, Simran Sandhu and Stephanie Takeda. Photos courtesy College of Dentistry

Brazil

The summer of 2005 was like no other for four College of Dentistry students.

On July 23, third-year students Dan Deheshi, Stephanie Takeda, and Theresa Doan, along with second-year student Simran Sandhu travelled to Brazil, a country known as much for its love of parties as for the great divide between its rich and poor. While in Brazil, we spent 10 days travelling from as far south as Sao Paulo all the way up north to the Amazon. The primary purpose of our trip though, was to volunteer our time and skill in a dental clinic run by the Fundamed organization in the small city of Codó, located in Maranhão, Brazil’s poorest state.

Here, we spent time observing the dental services provided in the state and city’s public hospitals, and private dental clinics. Working with Dr. Vitor Pacheco, we each got the opportunity to provide cleaning and restorative services to patients who often began lining up at the clinic’s doors at 4:00 a.m. just to be seen by one of the “foreign” dental students. Work on patients began at 7:30 a.m. and often didn’t end until 5:00 in the evening. We also spent time with children in the local public schools teaching them the importance of tooth brushing.

Each of us came away from the experience very aware of how fortunate dentists are in North America. Basic supplies were often lacking and we quickly learned to improvise – but we still managed to hone our skills while providing a much-needed service to a people who truly appreciated the dental students’ work.

— Simran Sandhu

Tonga

Maloelelei! This past summer I had the opportunity to spend nearly two months in the South Pacific doing humanitarian dental work for the people of Tonga and Western Samoa. It was a life-changing experience that has created in me a real interest in service.

I worked alongside Dr. Wayne Chisholm and his wife Jeannine who have dedicated the past 10 years of their lives to improving health and dental care in Tonga and surrounding islands. Ranked third on the United Nations’ list of most vulnerable developing countries, the Kingdom of Tonga is among the poorest in the world. But,

despite their humble circumstances, they are a very generous, happy and grateful people.

Aside from the drilling, filling, cleaning and extracting, I had the chance to go into the schools of Western Samoa and instruct children on the importance of brushing their teeth, something many of them knew nothing about. After a long day of work you could usually find me snorkelling at my favourite beach or running into Nuku’alofa to the market for some of my favourite Tongan foods, Manioka and Sapa Sui!

I have much yet to learn in the field of dentistry but I am grateful for the opportunity to begin my career in service, and I look forward to doing it often throughout my life. I want to thank those who donated to this effort and if you are interested in learning more, my website at www.dentistryplus.blogspot.com.

— Kristi Perry

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