Training Opportunity

This past week we had a first of sorts on the boat. A local dentist came to the ship and asked if she could observe and “help”. Last January we had invited a young dentist we had met while walking to come to the ship for a visit. We ended up training him to do all kinds of things he had no idea about.
Both of these young dentists have had no formal training. Like most of the dentist in Cambodia they are “traditional” dentist meaning they simply learned the trade as an apprentice of someone else. The main thing I tried to teach both of them was how to give adequate anesthesia. They do not know how to administer local block anesthesia which means they never fully numb their patient’s lower teeth. You can numb most upper teeth by just giving the “shot” above the tooth but not so on the lower. One thing is for sure. Their patients will be much happier if their lower teeth are actually numb!