Taveuni Dental Care-Give a Little

Prominent local dentist and long serving club member and Paul Harris Fellow Gary Lawrence needs our support and donations for the 2023/2024 Rotary Volunteer Dental Aid Project to Taveuni Island, Fiji.

Gary has taken a team of dentists to the island of Taveuni since 2010 to attend to the oral health of primary schools children. They have no care otherwise and their teeth are typically in a very poor state, manifesting in many poor general health outcomes. The project was interrupted in 2019 /2022 by the pandemic. 

The projects goals are:

1.Provide first-world dentistry to primary school children on Taveuni Island
2.Reinstate a sustainable preventative programme within the schools and communities 
3.Bring back the smile to the people of Taveuni
 
Members of the public are encouraged to donate at ​​​​​​Give a Little 
 
 

Gary's Fijian adventure started many years ago when Johnston Luen,a class mate of his who sat near him (always in alphabetical order in those days) for 4 years at Dental School, told him about how he was going up into the South Pacific and providing free dentistry for the local inhabitants.
This has proved to be a very worthwhile project utilizing rotary dentists. A few times they have let in non rotarians! 
Gary was given the opportunity to travel up and volunteer his dental services for the 2010 visit to Taveuni Island. He has returned with a group of four dentists every two years since leading the last group in 2016, for his fourth visit.
Geoffrey Amos, who mainly now resides in Taveuni was in his working life, co-owner of Maurice Cain, a large textile supplier in NZ. He organises everything on the island including all the vehicles as well as the personnel, equipment and the timetable amongst the schools. They only have to organise the Dental portion of the programme and the funding.
The last team consisted of newbies, Dr's Ricky Gee from Lower Hutt, and Helen Cho from Hastings. Returning again they had Dr Ray Joe from Auckland and Gary Lawrence. This was the Rotary Volunteer Dental Teams 8th visit Taveuni Island.
 
Their programme aim is to make dentally fit all year 7 & 8 (Standard 5 & 6) children at each school. They teach them oral hygiene and preventative training In both cleaning and diet counselling. This is to set them up for their High school years so they can concentrate on learning without taking time off school. We provide toothbrushes, toothpaste and information packs on healthy eating choices as well. 
 
The teachers are important in carrying on their preventative scheme in the schools between biennial visits. A number of the schools have adopted tooth-brushing drills daily. Before school starts they line up with a small amount of toothpaste provided on their brushes and in drill like routines, clean their teeth.

This preventative package is working. In 2016 they saw a 400+ drop in the dental work required at one school
 
When they are operating on patients, they undertake the work as close to the standards we all expect in NZ as far as they can. Strict hygiene protocols are still followed.
Two dentists work in tandem to ease the work load. Each completed patient receives a pack within which contains a new brush, toothpaste as well as information pack on dental disease and choosing healthy foods.