Day 3 Blog (Only took 3 days to post)

Day 3: The longest working day so far!

A big hello to you all!

Melissa, Pan and Melanie playing an English dental word matching game with the kids

This is our third day in Thailand and we have been very busy! With a start of 8.15am we were working all the way until 8.30pm. It was my first opportunity to assist Dr. Patel with treatments and it was a pleasure having the chance to observe how he works; he’s really good with the kids and successfully gets over the language barrier! What I have found amazing is that a high majority of the kids do not complain, even when they are experiencing some discomfort- they are tough cookies!

Today’s treatments were carried out on the school kids and some kids from an orphanage. Dr. Bunnag and Dr. Patel sure had their hands tied as the TOTAL stats so far will show…

62 restorative patients
59 hygiene patients
104 fillings
256 sealants
49 cleanings
58 fluoride applications

Great work dentists aka moh fan! (Dr. Teeth literal translation!) They have both been amazing working with very few breaks for 12 hours!

In addition to the treating, there is also oral health education taking place, in the form of games of course! We have made our very own memory game, with colour coded cards for food that are bad for you teeth, good for your teeth and hygiene cards (e.g. toothpaste, dental floss). The aim of the game is to match the picture card with its corresponding word- it’s been a success in teaching the kids English and also in us learning some Thai! Keng mak (well done)! 

Aaron, Raina and Pan were busy interviewing the principal of the school, a grade 6 student and 2 girls from Grade 7 and 12. Some comments from one of the kids were that he learnt what was good and what was bad for his teeth and that he was grateful for his treatments. These videos will be available on the website soon! So watch this space!   

I’ve really enjoyed working with the Smiles on Wings team and the kids so far and will definitely miss everyone when I’m back in cold England! It’s been great to see how Smiles on Wings run their missions with such organization, planning and with a smile!

Best wishes!
 Jacqueline Chok (Jax), a dental student from the UK.