Darlington Dentist Returns From Charity Mission in East Timor
A dentist from Darlington has returned from an enlightening trip to East Timor.
Dr Jo Daly, who is based at Springs Dental Studio, spent two weeks volunteering on the island to provide dental care to local people and training to volunteers and students, who will now be able to use their skills to help hundreds of people.
Dr Daly was part of a team of volunteers, which worked tirelessly over a period of 14 days to teach and train dental practitioners, who will become the first on the South East Asian island. The team showed the students how to perform basic dental procedures and the members were also involved in setting up a new oral health plan, which will help to promote oral health in the country for generations to come. The aim was to create a sustainable project, which will benefit young and old.
The trip was organised by dental charity, Dentaid, which runs projects all over the world to provide access to dental care and reach out to communities in need of treatment and education. Funding for the tuition was provided by the World Health Organisation.
Dr Daly has travelled extensively throughout her career and has been involved with Dentaid projects for the last decade. She has travelled to Cambodia and India and has also been to America and China to take part in fundraising activities for the charity. Speaking about her time in Timor Leste, Dr Daly admitted that the word was hard and the days long, but the effort was worthwhile, as people were so grateful and there are now clear plans in action, which will be hugely beneficial for hundreds of people in the future.
Dr Daly is planning a trip to Nepal in the near future and she hopes that more dentists from Australia and New Zealand will be interested in helping out with the East Timor mission, as it is much easier for them to gain access to the island than dentists travelling from the UK.
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