Dental care for the children at the Fountain of Life
Center is a vital service currently provided by Bangkok Pattaya Hospital,
and funded by the Jesters ‘Care for Kids’ Charity Drive.
Everyone
at the dental clinic had wide, beautiful smiles.
Diane Connelly, affectionately known as the ‘Tooth
Fairy’, continues to work hard to organize an effective dental program but
she does need additional volunteer help so as many children as possible at
the Center can be treated regularly. She can be contacted at the Fountain of
Life Center, North Pattaya behind the PSC Clubhouse.
Diane is quick to explain that getting these children to
the dentist from an early age is very important, as their family
circumstances do seriously work against the possibility of them having good
teeth.
The
kids enjoy a siesta at the FOL.
Many of the children are given sweet drinks and candy by
their family and friends to pacify them; add to this a total lack of tooth
brushing and the effects are awful. It is easy to blame the families for
lack of hygiene and bad diet, but in reality this is just a small part of
the problems suffered by the very poor. Pattaya is a prosperous city but
there are many people who still do not have access to running water, or are
without due to the drought. Brushing teeth then hardly becomes a priority.
At the Fountain of Life Center the teachers quickly teach
the new children about health and hygiene and they all brush their teeth
after meals, but what about the rest of the time? The tooth decay in the
children shocks the dentists and is really hard to treat. Many of them have
untreated abscesses. If your teeth are rotten you also don’t want to chew
on fresh fruit and meat, instead they fill up on soft sweet things and rice
that means they may look OK, but are actually undernourished.
That is where the Bangkok Pattaya Hospital comes in. The
Dental Department treats many of the children each week, made possible by a
generous 40% discount. Great credit must go to Dr. Thassanee and her dental
team. Dr. Orissa, pediatric dentist, Dr. Apinya, Dr. Thanaporn and Dr.
Porndee deserve special mention for their kindness and concern for the
children.
Dr
Orissa tends to one of the kids in the dentist’s chair.
The dental team also regularly visits the Center to give
free fluoride treatment.
Each week about five visits are made to the Bangkok
Pattaya Dental with children badly in need of treatment. Many children need
as many as four visits to sort out their problems, some involving difficult
root canal treatment to preserve the teeth.
Although some of the children have long and difficult
treatment there are few tears, as most children are desperate to show
“Nang Fa” their bad teeth in the hope of a ride in her car to the
dentist and to come back with their toothache gone, and often a present from
the dentist!
It may sound silly to say that success causes a problem,
but due to the work at the Center in processing ID documentation and
enabling children to progress to the government schools, the intake of
children is increasing, as word is out that the Fountain of Life Center is
their stepping-stone to an education. This means many more teeth to be cared
for! So, a top priority has to be getting the ‘Kids’ on the path of life
with a set of teeth that ensures they have the wonderful ‘Thai Smile’.
Keep up to date with the Jesters ‘Care for Kids’ Charity Drive web
site at www. care4kids.info and see the weekly ‘Care for Kids’ feature
article in Pattaya Mail.
The
cast kept the audience spellbound for the whole performance.
Samarth
Baligar from Year 6 (boy sitting) starring as Hansel and Catrine
Christensen from Year 5 (girl standing) starring as Gretel, along with some
creatively designed props and backdrops, magically transported everyone to
the Woodsman’s cottage and later, the sugar encrusted abode of the wicked
witches.
Mmmm
... ice cream...
