Tonga Dental Project - May 2004 Visit - clubrunner.ca

Tonga Dental Project - May 2004 Visit

(A Rotary RAWCS FAIM Project ongoing since 1996)
The 2004 Dental team consisted of 13 volunteers;

* Dr. David Goldsmith # – Dentist & team leader

Dr. Tema King – Dentist & Academic , Sydney University.

* Dr. Rudy Jansen # – Dentist
* Dr. Toni McNicol – Orthodontist
* Bill Davies #– Dental Prosthetist

Ryan Davies – Dental technician

* Peter Copp # – Dental equipment engineer
* Peter Jones – Plumber
* Lloyd Gray – Builder/air-conditioning
* Kylie Blake # – Dental Therapist (sponsored by the St.John’s / AusAID twinning program)
*Camille Lewis – Dental Nurse

Belinda Pilcher – Dental nurse
Sue Usher

(* Indicates return FAIM team member to Tonga, # Paul Harris Fellow)

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The May 2004 (our 8th.) visit involved;
1. Transportation of almost $100,000 in donations of dental equipment, new dental drugs and materials etc.
e.g. we donated over $20,000 of dental local anaesthetic – (when we arrived in Tonga, they were down to their last 3 boxes!)

Figure 1 Loading the Rotary DIK container in Geelong. April 2004

Figure 2. Opening and emptying the container at the Vaiola Hospital in Tonga May 2004

In addition to the dental goods there was a large amount of donated goods from St. John of God Hospital (details in John
MacDonald’s report), tools for Hango College from Frankston Rotary Club, books for a library on the Tongan Niua Islands from
Rotary DIK, Ophthalmic items from Ballarat Eye Clinic, clothing from Rotary for the Salvation Army and other items.
Funding for the container came from Rotary Foundation thanks to a successful Matching Grant submission by Dr. John Oswald.
Rotary club funding came from Ballarat West, Ballarat and Frankston Rotary Clubs.
Rotary DIK in Geelong (especially Hank Nydam) arranged the transportation of the container to Tonga.
Nuku’alofa Rotary Club arranged Customs clearance in Tonga and transportation to the Hospital. They also arranged extensive TV
and media coverage and gave us great support throughout our visit.

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2. Setting up and equipping a Dental Prosthetics Lab. at the Vaiola Hospital.
This would now be the best in the South Pacific (and compare well with Australian Labs.).
This year’s new additions include dust-extracting equipment, polishing unit, ZIP boiling
water unit, air-conditioning, denture teeth, mouthguard machine, etc.

Figure 3 Polishing unit, ZIP wax boil-out unit and air-conditioning.

Figure 4 Bill and Ryan Davies working with Silaiti Kakala in the Vaiola Hospital Dental Prosthetics Lab.

In the last two years the Vaiola Hospital Dental Prosthetics lab. has been transformed from a shell, to a fully functioning
lab., with enough stock to last for some years. For example some $40,000 of new denture teeth have been donated in the
past two years, - enough for over 5 years supply.

Bill Davies, Ryan Davies and Dale Hutchinson, Ballarat dental technicians, have also given clinical and technical tuition to
the only dental technician in Tonga, Mr. Silaiti Kakala, both in Ballarat and in Tonga.

The Lab. would now ideally support 2 or 3 Dental Technicians at Vaiola.

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3. Making over 150 individually made custom sports mouthguards for the Tongan Rugby
and Aussie Rules Football teams at National as well as High School levels.

Figure 5 Custom fitting mouthguards being made for the Aussie Rules Football players in Tonga.
Dr. Sililo Tomiki (Principal Dental Officer, Tonga) and Mr. Silaiti Kakala (the only trained Dental Technician in Tonga) as well
as dentists Drs. Rudy Jansen, Toni McNicol and dental nurses Camille Lewis and Belinda Pilcher combined with Dental
Technicians Bill and Ryan Davies with the taking of impressions and the fabrication of the mouthguards.
The mouth guard machine and spare blanks have been left in Tonga for Silaiti and Sililo to carry on the work.

Figure 6 The mouth guard machine, and Bill Davies and Dr. Sililo Tomiki fitting the mouthguards to the team players.
Other team members watch through the window!

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4. Totally re-equipping a dental clinic on the island of ‘Eua.

Figure 7 The Dental Clinic on the island of ‘Eua that was being used when we arrived, had minimal facilities. (basically only equipped
to do extractions and temporary fillings)

Figure 8 A new Air Compressor, Central Suction, Plumbing and Air-Conditioning were installed.

Figure 9 Cabinetry, brand new dental stock and instruments were added, and Painting was done.

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And the result ‘Eua now has one of the best equipped dental clinics in the South Pacific.

Materials and Instruments were provided by Monash University Student Union.
Dental equipment provided by the Rotary team.

Figure 10 The new 'Eua dental Clinic as it looks now.

Figure 11 The whole "Eua Hospital staff turned out for the Opening Ceremony, followed by a Tongan feast!

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5. Preparing a Needs Assessment Report for Dental Health in Tonga.
As an independent expert on Community Oral Health in the Pacific, Dr. Temalesi King did an assessment of Oral Health in
Tonga, and also on how she feels the Rotary Dental team can best support dentistry in Tonga in the future. This will be passed on
to the Tonga Ministry of Health and other interested parties and will be used to shape Rotary dental teams in the future. Dr. King
is currently working on a Ph.D on Oral Health in the Pacific at Sydney University.

6. Transporting goods for Vaiola Hospital from St. John of God Hospital, tools for Hango Agricultural College on ‘Eua
from Frankston Rotary, Ophthalmic items for the Vaiola Hospital Eye Clinic, and much more.
Offering support to other successful ongoing Tongan projects. It was very useful to be able to combine with the St. John’s team
of John MacDonald, Mary-Anne Gould and Cheryl Pretty who were visiting Vaiola Hospital at the same time.

7. Providing clothing and other goods for the Salvation Army in Tonga.
This followed on from support we gave to providing toys etc. from Monash University Student Union for a Child Care Centre in
Tonga last year.

8. Providing books for a school library on the remote Tongan islands of the Niuas.
Primary and secondary school books provided by Rotary Donations-in-Kind Southern Region.

9. Air-conditioning the Vaiola Hospital Children’s dentistry room, the Prosthetics Lab and the new ‘Eua dental clinic.
(Not just a luxury! - Otherwise only the main Vaiola hospital theatre currently has air-conditioning and no other room on ‘Eua is
air-conditioned!) Air Conditioning Units donated by Lloyd Gray.

10. General repairs to air-conditioning, kitchen refrigerators, hospital machinery etc. in the Vaiola Hospital.

11. Kylie Blake’s on-going work with the Preventive Dentistry Van, the fissure sealant program, the schools dental program
and reorganizing dental stock and ordering systems for the Tonga MOH..

Again his year we had a wonderful group of volunteers who generously donated their time, (and in most
cases also their airfares and accommodation costs), to support the Tonga Dental Health Project. Most of the
volunteers have been on previous teams. Sincere thanks go to all of the team members for their hard work and
commitment. The diverse and complementary blend of skills in the team allows us to do quite complex work,
both physically and clinically, in a very short space of time. For example putting together the whole ‘Eua clinic
from scratch, with everything ready to start operation, took the team (led by PHF Peter Copp) less than 3 days to
complete – a remarkable achievement!

In Fiji this September, some of this work will be featured at the International Association of Dental Research
meeting, so for the first time, dentistry in Tonga will be presented to a world audience. A further report will
follow (including Dr. Temalesi King’s findings) containing our assessment as to the strengths and weaknesses of
Oral Health in Tonga, and with recommendations for strategies on how these needs might be addressed in the
future. It is generally agreed in Tonga that this ongoing and broadly-based Rotary project is now the main
driving force in raising the dental health standards across the whole nation.

Finally, I would like to thank the whole of the dental staff in Tonga for their wonderful hospitality, and also
importantly the many Rotary Club members and the Australian dental supply companies for their generosity,
which helped so much to ensure that this visit was a success.

Please direct correspondence to; ( e-mail address [email protected])

Dr. David Goldsmith
Ballarat West Rotary Club
11, Lyons Street North
Ballarat 3350, Australia

(Rotary & St. John’s Twinning Co-ordinator, Tonga Dental Health Project)

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