Dentaid, Uganda
Louise Bambrick started her career as a dental nurse with an apprenticeship in September 2010. She attended college part time and worked full time as a dental nurse. She became qualified at the age of 23 and now works full time as a dental nurse.
‘It wasn’t a job I always thought of doing. However, I really wanted to find something I could develop into a career.’
Louise had a lot of dental treatment growing up, after an accident where her teeth were damaged. It was through her experience going to the dentist that the idea of becoming a dental nurse first arose.
‘I saw an advert for a trainee dental nurse at my local dentist. I went for it and it was the best thing I could have done.’
Louise has worked in the dental nursing industry for nearly 3 years and has done so many things in this short amount of time. In 2012, Louise volunteered for a trip to Uganda with Dentaid. Dentaid is an action group which works to improve the world’s oral health.
Dentaid visited Louise’s college to promote overseas projects. Unfortunately, the trips did not go ahead with the college but Louise decided to volunteer independently as an individual volunteer anyway.
‘I contacted Barbara Koffman who is Dentaid’s Uganda Coordinator in September and by February I was on my way to Uganda. This turned out to be the trip of a lifetime.’
Louise was in Uganda for 2 weeks, she returned home and a few weeks later signed her self up for the trip the following year. This time she travelled back to Uganda for another month (February 2013). Louise and her group of dentists, hygienists and dental nurses worked in partnership with Ugandan dentists. They offered free pain relief clinics across the country, visiting schools, clinics and orphanages. They carried all their equipment with them on a bus.
‘We would arrive early in the morning and there would already be queues of people waiting to see us.’
Louise helped to assist with extractions, fillings, fluoride applications and scaling. She also participated in Oral Health Education.
‘Oral Health Education was a main focus of our trip. Dentaid believe that teaching is one of the most important parts of achieving better oral health across the world.’
Louise described one patient who had a severe abscess. She was a little girl who could hardly open her mouth. Louise and her team had set up a clinic out in the sticks, nowhere near another town. Louise’s team couldn’t carry out any treatment on her as she was extremely swollen. Instead, they referred her to another clinic and paid for her travel and treatment. Although they couldn’t directly help the girl, they sent her in the right direction for the treatment she needed.
‘The little girl was so good, she didn’t cry or anything. It was so moving to be able to help her.’
‘Each day is so different. You take in a lot at once. Everyone is so lovely and you experience appreciation like you have never before. It definitely makes you realise what you have in life. Here, when you give out stickers at the end of treatment children often aren’t interested or bothered. However, when we gave out stickers to the Ugandan children they were so happy and grateful to receive one. Even kids at the age of 18, wanted a sticker.’
Louise added, ‘It is an incredible experience and if you are thinking about it, you should definitely go. You learn so much.’
Dentaid are on the look out for donations of dental materials. If you or your practice have any materials that can be made available please visit Louise’s donation page.
