New Zealand Dental Volunteers Return Home After Fiji Charity Trip

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A group of dental professionals from Waikato Hospital has returned home after a successful charity trip to Fiji.

The visit, which was organised by the Island of Smiles Charitable Trust, took place at the end of January. A group of eight dentists, dental nurses and dental surgeons from the hospital travelled to the city of Lautoka in the West of the country to provide dental treatment for hundreds of local people.

During their four day stay in the area, the team worked tirelessly from their temporary outdoor clinic and extracted a total of 798 teeth. They treated almost 330 patients and rode out intense heat and humidity to help people who had been suffering from dental pain for years. For many, this was the first time they had seen a dentist.

The trust was established to provide people living in the Pacific Islands with access to dental treatment and relief. The hospital team wanted to help out in an area where there is demand for services and Fiji was chosen because access to dental care is poor and a high percentage of the population suffers with dental issues.

Simon Lou, a specialist in oral and maxillofacial surgery at Waikato Hospital, explained that staff had connections with Fiji and a previous visit to the country in 2015 had revealed extensive shortages in dental provision. Mr Lou visited Fiji last year and was also present for this year’s trip. This year, numbers were higher, but the team powered through each day to treat hundreds of people and relieve them from chronic pain.

Everyone agreed that the trip had been a real success and the team is looking forward to working on other projects in the years to come.

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