Vietnam, 2005

Published on September 03, 2005 by Tom Love

We treated 2000+ kids in our six days of work. We were at a different location each day, while working with our team of nine from Dental Mission for Children. The local "Red Cross" members worked alongside of us making our efforts easier since our team could not speak the language.

A special thanks to the local Vietnam Colgate Division for the gift of 15,000 toothbrush/toothpaste kits. Some 4000 children benefited from this gift during this mission trip.

The kids are very needy. The schools where we worked were at rather remote sites, requiring up to 90+ minutes of travel time each way. We stayed in the same hotel each night while away from Saigon. The travel time to My Tho, where we stayed, seemed to be at least 2-1/2+ hours from Saigon. Two lane roads with lots of traffic are slow.

Our work setup: Lan, a Red Cross member who worked with us, screened every child that we saw. She marked on their faces which teeth she wanted removed and which molars she wanted treated with Fluoride. We had one local anesthesia station where the teeth were numbed by John, a pedodontist from North Carolina. There were two and sometimes three fluoride stations and two extraction stations. The kids were directed through the process and once finished they were back out side to receive any needed medication and a "kit" with toothbrush, paste, a notebook, some other small items and an instruction sheet. The kids and parents were given hygiene instruction, and prior to our arrival at each school each child was given a glass of fortified milk. That was a real treat.

It is hard to imagine, at times, how little some people have. Kids are kids. Laughing. Singing. Just being kids. They were very well behaved. Some American kids could take a lesson or two from these kids.

Holly prayed over every child that she and I treated. A special thanks to each of you for your prayers. Prayer is powerful and each of us can do it. It costs but a bit of time but can have incredible effects.