US dentist Dr Jeff Gifford and dental assistant Sandra Oman work on the teeth of a child in Myanmar on a recent expedition organised by Whangārei man Mark Nicholls.
US dentist Dr Jeff Gifford and dental assistant Sandra Oman work on the teeth of a child in Myanmar on a recent expedition organised by Whangārei man Mark Nicholls.
During four years running a river cruise in Myanmar, Whangārei man Mark Nicholls was overwhelmed by the abject poverty many rural people lived in so decided he wanted to do something to help.
Nicholls has recently returned from a second dental mercy mission to the impoverished country where a team of American dentists and hygienists fixed the teeth of 421 children most of whom had never seen a dentist before.
He ran a cruise tour company on the Irrawaddy River that flows from north to south through Myanmar from 2015 to 2019 and during that time saw the extreme poverty many in the country lived in and was determined to do something to help.
‘’Once you get out of the main cities there is just such poverty in the rural areas. While it looks like extreme poverty they generally live in family groups so the kids are generally well looked after and fed, but they have very little and many have never had any dental care at all. They never brush their teeth or know about dental hygiene,’’ Nicholls said.
On one of his cruises a group of American dentists and hygienists were on board and after discussing the situation with them they said they’d like to help too.
‘’You always get people saying that, and I thought that was the end of it, but they got in touch and said if I can organise it they will come.’’
So Nicholls organised his first mission in 2019 where they treated more than 200 kids.
But his efforts to organise another one were stymied by the country’s military making it hard for foreigners to enter the country, and the Covid pandemic.
However, after making contact with the country’s minister of dentistry, permission was granted for another trip, which started in early February with a team of nine dentists and hygienists from the US plus six local Burmese staff.
Dr Matt Kelly, from the US, plays with Lego with children from rural villages in Myanmar during a dental mercy mission. The children had never seen Lego before but made some amazing creations.
‘’We had to overcome many obstacles placed on us by the military government in Myanmar including not being allowed to stay in any one village for more than one day. Each evening after very long, hot, days we had to disassemble all the mobile dental equipment, pack it up and move it to the next village we were to operate in. This was for security reasons as there is a civil war being waged inside Myanmar,’’ he said.
The mobile clinic had been designed for the Vietnam War so was relatively easy and quick to dismantle and assemble, but it was still a chore.
In the end the mission treated 421 children who had never seen a dentist before.
‘’We also at the end of each day treated adults who had urgent dental needs but never kept a count of the adults,’’ he said.
Nicholls said the children and their families were delighted to get the treatment and the children were so brave during their treatments, despite the pain they would have been in.
When asked why he did it, Nicholls said as Christians he and the others could not stand by and watch the situation unfold without doing something to help.
‘’To be honest I think we actually get more out of this than they (the children treated) do. It’s so satisfying to know you are making a difference in their lives and doing something to improve their health.’’
This little man had just had a extraction done, of which there were many but still gave a thumbs-up, despite his discomfort.
Each child was given a dental pack, including toothbrush, toothpaste and oral advice, and training was also given to their school teacher to ensure the dental hygiene was continued.
‘’They are such beautiful people in Myanmar and they were so pleased to see us. The kids were so stoic during the procedures and very brave. It was such a pleasure to be able to go and do this.’’
As well as the dentistry the team also took along Lego products to donate to each school.
‘’They had never seen Lego before, but the things they made from it was amazing.’’
Nicholls is already organising his next dental mission for February next year and will take a larger team with him to get more work done.
‘’The minister of dentistry came along and was so impressed by the work we did, and how quick it was done, that next time he wants to put some of their trainee dentists with us for some experience.’'
Anybody keen to get involved in his next trip, planned for February 2024, can email him on true.vacations@yahoo.co.nz.
