hello and welcome to chairside live I'm your host Megan strong and we've got something a
little different than what you normally see here on chairside live our dental assistant
will Schmidt is taking us across the globe to Fiji where he performed charity dentistry for hundreds
of patients in just 10 days Glidewell dental was thrilled to support whale on this trip by
donating supplies and I can't wait so let's check it out you know so many of our chairs slide live
videos brings you tips tricks and techniques today I think I'm going to break from the norm and share
a feel-good story that shares my involvement with Glidewell dental my love for dental charity and
my love for the ocean in the rare instances when I can combine these three factors it's a recipe for
success we should be able to link up with the Fiji dental Medical Foundation for their sixth
annual trip to the island of Malolo to provide charity dentistry for the islands residents my
name is Greg Hurd I'm the founder and president of the Fiji dental medical foundation my name is
dr. Greg Mowgli I am a board member on Fiji dental and medical foundation we do volunteer dentistry
down in Fiji in a remote section of the islands called the mama knew the islands and we couldn't
provide free dentistry for the villagers when dr. hurt and I first spoke he was really excited to
talk to me I think the first thing you said to me was a surfing dental assistant we'd have to have
you come with us I've been going to Fiji since 92 and over the years and 97 we found Nemo to
Island and we would go back once a year sometimes twice a year to fish and dive and surf and have a
time and we became friends with the owner of the island and in addition to that we became friends
with the staff who were Fujian and every time I go back there would be the vidiians smiling and
missing a tooth and I go back the next year they'd be missing another tooth and I really
started finding a cause here to help out knowing that the health care there is not very good and
the dentistry hardly anything at all and that's that was the the start of the foundation he he
got this idea that he wanted to give back to the people I was introduced we met and the rest is
just history it just felt like such a natural thing I wanted to return to Fiji I wanted to
my first experience down there was just amazing and the chance to go back and do something that
I love to do dentistry down there was just kind of a natural fit one thing dr. hurt asked for
me not to get frustrated with was the amount of technology they simply didn't have I mean
they didn't have x-rays their chairs were from Costco and mounted on cinder blocks and there's
absolutely no advanced sterilization techniques we work under the Minister of Health in Fiji and
it's the Wellness of Fiji program all our services that we do all the treatment that's rendered has
to be recorded and presented to the Minister of Health they give us a community center to work in
it's about an 800 square foot building we four of us go down a week early we build the clinic we we
start from an empty room and with in a day and a half we have six chairs sterilization room we have
everything dialed in and ready to go right now since we've been there six years and the Fijian
people are realizing what time of year were there there's a relation now and they know when to come
but when we first started we would send out emails and try to get notices to the people
and they had no clue until we started setting up what was going on well by the second day through
the coconut Telegraph these people were lining up you know 50 deep so we've tied in with some the
medical side and we we screen for blood pressure diabetes we do hemoglobin counts and so we've been
able to tie that in with our dentistry and through education I think we're making a difference in
the in the villagers when we're securing and screening all these patients there's a lot of
different factors going on we want to do the most we can for these patients but we want to see as
many people as we can - so when our volunteers come down we hit the ground running we had two
pediatric dentists we had two GPS actually for GPS because doctor Mowgli and myself for GPS
and we had two oral surgeons so that's a total of eight I have to screen these patients and we
try to target pain and infection first and then we will target any type of dental caries in addition
to that if there are extractions and they're in the anterior we try to provide flippers for them
the majority of the villagers work in the resort hospitality industry there's a number of resorts
spread throughout the island and they and they work in in there and if they're missing a front
tooth you can see that they're embarrassed by that and they and they don't smile they they
have to be in front of the public and when we started adding partial dentures to what we do
down there it became the hit I mean it is it's a we have people every every year coming up and they
want false and we have false and that's the what they call you know replacing their front teeth and
that's something that's very rewarding and it's got to be thought out prior because we have to
have at least a day to turn this around Glidewell dental was willing and able to donate a number of
things ranging from dental supplies and of course our camouflage nano hybrid composite thank thank
you I mean that was just such a wonderful thing we we beg borrow and steal for a lot of our supplies
you know it's as a small foundation we we run on a shoestring budget and and glide well did donate a
number of things some camouflage composite and the feedback I got from our general dentists working
whether to say we're just so happy again because we've had some in the past it's difficult to work
with and this one was that material just seemed to really work well in the conditions we were
working under ninety ninety we say 90 degrees 90 percent humidity it is hot we do have fans
blowing I think we have about 25 fans that we run with generators to try to cool the clinic
down but you are constantly sweating where most composites couldn't hold up the light
walls camouflage composite held up against the elements I remember this woman in particular she
was missing most of her central incisors and you use camouflage to reconstruct these with chairside
veneers she hadn't seen herself like this for four years and just heard her look and her reaction to
me rest was priceless when you get to meet these people and you see how you change their lives
especially when you take out teeth that are not healthy and they're embarrassed and you give them
an upper partial denture and they're able to smile and feel socially acceptable and have confidence
go back to work they that that's rewarding that's that's something there that just keeps you coming
back so there's an older man I'd just taken five teeth out of his mouth and I'm trying to take him
over to check out and he he runs out of the clinic I'm looking to see where he's going and he grabbed
a stick outside and he was hitting mangos out of a tree and he runs back to us just just gauze stuff
in his mouth and his arms full of mangoes he says to us this is all I have to give and it's
very it's amazing it you see somebody walk in and they're covering their mouth and they're they're
shy and they're they're a little embarrassed and we pop in a partial denture and they look in the
mirror and the smile grows and it they're just so happy and it's it you know you've changed
their life and that that again is you know that's why we go back it makes it fun ultimate goal once
I retire I'd like to do this full-time I Maya it's it's something that I could see even some
of the board members segwaying and doing but the volunteers that come down they pay their own way
they give up their time there most of them the dentist dentists and oral surgeons take
a week out of their practice to come down the other volunteers are all missing work
they come down pay their own way to be there they give they give their heart to the people
of the Fijian people this foundation hasn't set out to change the world they have very humble
goals and ambitions but they will continue to make a difference in their small corner of the
Fijian Islands for more information visit us at Fiji dental medical org my name is will Schmidt
registered dental assistant at gladwell dental and proud volunteer of the Fiji dental medical
foundation thank you so much for watching or as we would say in Fiji wanaka baccala vu
Wow that was amazing thank you so much for sharing that with us well well that about
wraps it up for this episode of chairside live on behalf of everyone here at Glidewell dental
we thank you for watching and we'll meet you right back here next time