Leaving with a smile

Kristian Richardson and Vanessa Surette workon a patient at Operation Outreach. (Bruce BottomleyPhoto)

Under bright fluorescent lights, their work begins.

Minutes earlier, these dental students got a first look at theirpatient’s charts. The procedures they’re about to doaren’t necessarily complicated—an extraction here, afilling there—but there’s a lot of them. After all,some of these patients haven’t been to a dentist in years, ifever.

As the students start to assess the situation, the small talkbegins: How are you doing today? What seems to be the problem?Let’s see what we can do about that. Some patients respondwith clear answers; others work through the language barrier,expressing themselves as best they can.

A couple of hours later, these patients will leave their dentalchairs and return to their new lives in Halifax. The difference? Abetter smile.

Welcome to Operation Outreach, a clinic put on by Dalhousiedentistry students for local refugees. On Wednesday afternoon, theprogram held its second clinic, treating 10 refugees with thesupport of the Faculty of Dentistry. The program is a partnershipwith Immigrant Settlement & Integration Services (formerly MISAand HILC) and the Halifax Refugee Clinic.

“We want to provide needed dental services to populationsthat don’t have access to care and can’t affordit,” says Dr. Chris Lee, director of the Emergency RecallClinic and one of the team behind Operation Outreach.“We’d love to be able to extend this sort of service asfar and wide as possible, but we have to start somewhere, and thereis such a need here.”

As a teaching hospital, the Dalhousie Dental Clinic providesdental care to over 12,000 regular patients, at a cost roughly halfof similar procedures in private practice. This allows the clinicto reach populations for whom dental care is often costprohibitive, but with Operation Outreach the dental school ishoping to establish a sustainable, ongoing initiative to assist aparticularly needy population.

Prior to the clinic, Dr. Lee and his team assess severalcandidates recommended by ISIS and the Refugee Clinic and selectpatients based on need. From there, each is paired with two dentalstudents – a fourth year on the verge of graduation and athird year, who work together to perform the procedures over thecourse of the afternoon.

“We had so many students sign up to volunteer,” saysDr. Ferne Kraglund, assistant professor and another member of theorganizing team. “We’ve got 20 students here today andhad to turn as many away. All of these students are giving up theirafternoon, their own free time, to help out today.”

“It’s important that we give back wherever wecan,” says Rob Gardiner, a fourth-year student taking part inthe clinic. “These are real patients coming to us with realchallenges. If we have the resources to do this, we should.It’s that simple.”

Heather Johnson, working with Mr. Gardiner for the afternoon,agrees. “This gives us the opportunity to work on a number ofprocedures at once, with patients who really benefit from what wecan offer.”

Dean Thomas Boran dropped by to greet the students before theybegan. “This is what it’s all about,” he said.“This is providing health care to a population in great need.You should feel very proud about what you’re doingtoday.”

“For those of us that work in dental or oral health, thereare many patients that are overlooked, underserved or not served atall,” added Dr. Boran. “It’s our responsibilityto do what we can to make sure that no one gets left behind. Thisis a small way we can start that process.”

The dental clinic hopes to hold Operation Outreach again in thenear future, with the goal of eventually achieving the fundingnecessary to make it a monthly initiative.