Day 1

We started our camp on February 17 Sunday. We met around 6:40 am and headed towards Andes house to meet our other three dentists (Malta, Tim & Maria).

We carried our medicines, filling materials, extraction instruments, etc.

People lined up at Free Dental Check-up Clinic at Manakamana Health Post. Gorkha District.

We went there by 1:00 pm afternoon but due to thunderstorm the day before we couldn’t make it through the cable car. Then Nikki di, Sanjay dai along with two other gentlemen helped us find a bus. Although the road was scary and bumpy we enjoyed the ride very much. It was around 30 minutes ride to the Health Post. There was a significant number of patients waiting for us to check their oral status since morning. We rushed to get our instruments ready. We started looking after a patient from 2 PM onwards. It was our first day in Gorkha at Manakamana Health Post of Shahid Lakhan Gaupalika.

Our target for the first day was lesser as we arrived later than we planned to. Despite the delay, we still managed 46 patients on the first day, where most of them were children of 4-13 yrs. We extracted 11 teeth among which 4 were deciduous and 7 were permanent. We restored 6 teeth; 

4 permanent and 2 deciduous. We witnessed people complaining about pain along with gingival abscess, we managed those cases by draining the abscess. Out of 19 cases, 15 were minor and while the rest 4 were severe.

Highlights

1. The under 13 complained of decayed teeth, they were excavated and restored. Some patients also complained about gingival swelling with pus drainage where we drained the pus and were referred to a nearby hospital for further treatment.
2. Patients 19-24 years of age complained about inflamed and painful gums, we advised them of proper brushing techniques focusing on that inflamed area.
3. Patients above 35 yrs complained about decayed teeth, they were excavated and restored. Patients complaining about pain or mobility were treated with teeth extraction only when their vitals reading allowed and their medical condition where most people were hypertensive and some were hypotensive. So we extracted few root stumps as many were not feasible for extraction on a mobile clinic.
4. We also demonstrated brushing technique at school, Tim demonstrated while I helped him with translation. Students who received the demonstration actively were very interactive and even we called a volunteer for the demonstration.

Review

The first day was really in a rush but we conducted the camp well. We worked until 6 pm in the evening but still, it was disheartening to know that many patients had to return due to time limitations. During interactions, many patients sadly wanted their ached teeth extracted even though they could be preserved. People, especially of old age, were ignorant about their medical conditions, for example, they would not take medication for the high blood pressure because the hospital was far from their village. However, children were very conscious about their teeth especially teenagers, but again they were unaware that the fillings could restore their decayed teeth. 

Day 2

Free Dental Check up Clinic at Manakamana Health Post. Gorkha District.

We planned to reach the health post at 9:30 in the morning so we started at 9:00 AM after breakfast. We waited for our vehicle for about 10 minutes but it didn’t arrive then we started walking to our clinic as we were running late. Somewhere midway while walking we wanted to take photos so we made group photos and some singles too. The roads were really confusing so we forgot which way to go and went the opposite direction by mistake. We met a broken Jeep on our wrong way that helped us find the clinic. We decided to divide ourselves into groups of two, a group of 4 with German dentists rode the jeep and 3 of us settled to walking. It was 10:30 am by the time we finally reached there. Patients were already lining up for checkups. We almost checked 87 patients and majority of them were children.

Highlights

1. Patients complained about decayed teeth so we excavated and restored them. We managed to restore 15 teeth where 6 were children and 9 were adults.
2. Some patients complained about pus drainage along with pain. We planned to drain the pus and were advised to visit a hospital for needful treatment.
3. Many patients were for extraction due to mobility, pain, gingival swelling. Many people above 40 yrs were hypotensive so we didn’t perform any extractions whereas others, about 39 were extracted. Among them 7 were children and 32 were adults.

Review

On this day we found many people were hypotensive and they don’t want to visit nearby hospitals until and unless they have a problem. Even there is a health post nearby their home they don’t have a regular follow-up. Hospitals were really far from the village so some people discontinue their follow-up. If villagers have pain or abscess they ask for painkillers but don’t prefer to go the hospitals. Many children had lots of decayed teeth and both, the parents and the children, were unaware of it. We advised many patients about keeping their oral hygiene clean and healthy and counseled them about the importance of oral hygiene.

Day 3

Manjari Gurung, A class 10 student drew “How to Brush your Teeth” & “Things to Remember” charts with Healing Hands Nepal & United Smile e.V. logo on them.

The next camp was a school camp. We had our breakfast at 8:00 AM and were ready for camp. We reached Shree Saraswati Secondary School at 9:30 AM. A total of 1000 students greeted us at the school but our plan was to provide treatments to those students who needed attention the most. We treated 124 students including the school staff. Students were totally excited to know about their oral hygiene status. We started with the staff first and then moved to the students. Most complained of sensitivity and gingival swelling and rest came with no complaints at all. We checked 124 patients where 104 were students of 13-21 yrs and 20 patients were students plus staffs of 26 – 50 yrs.

Highlights

1. Many complained about decayed teeth, the age group of 11-19 yrs was 62 where we excavated and restored. Some teeth weren’t restored as they were too deep and were referred to the nearby clinic for needful treatment
2. The patient complaining about mobile teeth were extracted. the hopeless teeth that couldn’t be restored were extracted. We extracted 11 teeth where 4 were deciduous and 2 were root stumps.
3. One of the staff had a gingival abscess which is episodic in nature were drained and was advised him to visit a dentist as soon as possible. We asked him to visit us the third day too for a follow-up.

Review

On our first day, we got to know students are unaware of the importance of oral hygiene. They brushed their teeth once before meals but if they are running late for school they wouldn’t brush at all. Also, many staff had poor oral hygiene, we advised them to maintain healthy oral hygiene and also share the dental values with them, pupils. Some people had many root stumps but they didn’t want any extractions as they didn’t complain of pain.

Some of the students were petrified because they were told that the dentists would extract their teeth and they would also use a syringe for treatment. We applied fluoride for those patients and counseled them. There were also patients who had good oral hygiene and we motivated them further. 

Day 4 

Free Dental Check up Clinic at Shree Saraswati Secondary School. Gorkha District

It was our second day at the School. We reached there at 9:30 AM. It was a really important day as the lined up students were visually impaired. Many of those students had good oral hygiene, no decayed teeth except for a girl-child, she had multiple decayed teeth and they were restored successfully. The children were mostly under 15 years of age on this day. Some of them were really scared while rest of them were excited. There were a total of  134 cases, 129 cases were of 6-19 yrs and the rest 5 were of 32-59 yrs. We excavated and restored many teeth and it was almost like a restoration day.

Highlights

1. Patient complaining about mobile teeth and grossly decayed that could not be restored were extracted. We extracted 11 cases where most of them were mobile teeth of under 15 years age students.
2. Patient complaining about decayed teeth were excavated and restored. We filled 68 teeth where 47 were of students and 5 were of teachers. People complaining about decayed teeth along with pain were referred to the nearby hospital.
3. Patient complaining about gingival swelling along with abscess were drained and referred them near by hospital for further treatment. 

Review

We found many patients having irregularly placed teeth wanted extraction of those teeth due to their esthetic, especially teenagers, as they were unaware of orthodontic treatment. We advised them not to extract but go for orthodontic treatment. Many students were advised to maintain oral hygiene.

Day 5 

Distribution of Dental kit at Shree Saraswati Secondary School. Gorkha District.

This day was the last day of our 5-day dental camp. Today we planned to distribute toothpaste and toothbrush along with demonstration to primary class students. As usual, we reached school at 9:30 AM for the one last time. 50+ students gathered at the assembly ground, and as the first day at the Primary school in Manakamana village, the session started with interaction with students, Tim Klomp then demonstrated the brushing technique and when we called one of the students, many students raised their hands in excitement to volunteer as a model. All the team members clapped with joy to see cheerful children’s involvement. We demonstrated Fone’s method, as we were counting the brushing times, every single one along with teachers counted 20 times and each time.

After the demonstrations, we distributed the dental kits. All the children shouted their favorite color while picking teeny-tiny toothbrushes that would perfectly fit their equally teeny-tiny mouths. They were totally over the moon and we were more because of the ever-joyful atmosphere they created. 

After demonstration and distribution, we started our camp, we treated 52 patients where most of them were students.

Highlights

1. Many patients complained about mobile teeth and root stumps where many were extracted and some were referred to the nearby hospital.
2. The patients complaining about decayed teeth were excavated and restored. We restored 41 teeth. 
3. On this day we didn’t get any gingival problems.

Review

This day was challenging, especially with one of our dentists down with a fever.  And almost all the patients needed teeth extraction. Multiple extractions and restorations per patient. Many parents also came for the treatment and queued up almost the whole day. So we treated everyone present until very late in the evening because it was our last day. Many cases were such that patients had undergone treatment locally before but not attended the follow-ups. Those patients had a temporary filling and were advised to revisit their doctors but they didn’t want to because those dental facilities were quite far from their homes and they didn’t want multiple appointments either.

United Smile e.V. and Healing Hands Nepal at the conclusion of 5 day Free Dental Check-up Clinic. Gorkha District.