BAKSIS PERDANA 2010

I joined another odd job/community service last 14^th November. It is organized by our Dental Student Committee. There were all together 47 dental students who joined the event and a dentist from the Pediatric Dentistry who also followed us to guide us. Among the 47 dental students, 16 of them were co-assistant while the rest of them haven’t got their bachelor. I’m one of the juniors who were present there to learn more about dentistry. I shall say the event organizer didn’t arranged things well because not all 47 students were informed to attend the briefing before the event. I was one of them who didn’t know what will happen until the night before the event. I only received an SMS at around 11.20PM telling me “Gather in faculty before 7.30AM tomorrow morning. Bring your lab coat or co-ass coat if you have one. Bring along the basic equipment you need for a dental check-up.”

So the next morning I went there on time and as usual, these people don’t understand punctuality. Perhaps those irresponsible lecturers had taught them this bad habit. In fact, all my 16 seniors were there already. We waited for those late-comers until 8.30AM. We’ve made calls to wake them up. We took a van to the venue of giving free treatment together. It wasn’t very far from our faculty. We were then divided into groups. Jihan and I were in charged for group 7. It is an Islamic school, not sure if it is an all boys’ school since I only see boy patients.

when we arrived to Al-Fityan School

from left: Li Ting, Joanne, Salman, Liyana

discussing with friend

First, we gave education and taught the kids to brush their teeth correctly. Well, they’re not really kids already. Most of them are teenage. We gave them disclosing solution before letting them brush their teeth. I brought my mirror and let them check their teeth after brushing.

They're using the method we taught them XD

After that, we checked their teeth. Those who needed treatment were brought into the hall where the co-assistants and the dentist were waiting. Others who don’t need treatment went having games. Yes, we prepared games for them too but I didn’t know much about the game sessions because I was helping in the hall at most time. I remember I learned to use the scaler machine the last time I followed the Indonesian seniors to Bukit Lawang. This time, still the same, I didn’t get the chance to experience tooth extraction because the seniors need these patients as their minimum requirements. So in the end, I’ve been taught by Eddy the way to do manual scaling. It is tiring especially when their calculi were so hard. Special case in this trip? Hmm.. I see polyp but the dentist didn’t let us to take any action because we didn’t have the right equipment that time. It is another fun day and I experienced a lot. I better learn to communicate with kids from now on. I really think I couldn’t communicate with them. Do I look fierce or scary? They all look so shy. They just smiled but not uttering any words when I asked them questions.

Quick lesson from Brother Eddy

I wish to have another baksos/baksis or whatever they call it the odd job here =) Really gained a lot from every trip I joined.