Are you ok everybody?” students were asked after Dr. Jodi Monaghan, a Lethbridge dentist, showed horrific dental care pictures to students at Lethbridge College.

In January, Monaghan and Nicole Spaling, a dental hygenist, traveled to Angkor, Cambodia. They visited with a group of Canadian doctors in hopes of aiding the less fortunate.
The movement these individuals started is changing humanitarian work.
“Some of the people in these villages didn’t even know what a toothbrush was,” said Spaling.
 “In some villages there was an interpreter showing them how to use a toothbrush.”
 Due to the lack of oral hygiene, decaying gum and teeth cases are common.
“There’s a nut they chew called the betel nut that stains their teeth really bad,” said Monaghan.  
Over time, many residents don’t have any gums left due to infection and bone loss.
“They would come in and they would lay down on a table and I would just pull out teeth,” Monaghan said.
The patients would then spit out their teeth into a garbage can beside them.  
Cambodians showed a high tolerance for pain, said Monaghan. “They didn’t move, they didn’t do anything.”
Children as young as four were in need of treatment for their tooth decay.
“No one even flinches when you try to freeze them there,” added Spaling.
During their presentation both Monaghan and Spaling became emotional as they recalled how life-changing the experience had been.
“It’s overwhelming,” Spaling said.
“I hear people complain about the health care system here, yet these people will walk four days to get a blood pressure pill.”
On most days, the group would have to get up at 6 a.m. and work until the evening.
At night they would have to sort medication into bags that could be distributed to the residents.
“That was a huge thing that we would do during the night. . . [in order] to go to the clinic the next day and deal with the people in the best way we could,” said Monaghan.
Spaling said it’s “…just so nice to see how giving people can be.”
“It just makes a world of difference to the people there.”
The ten-day project in Cambodia was funded by Loving Abandoned Children Everywhere.
Members of the group included pediatricians, ministers, nurse practitioners and an orthopedic surgeon.The group treated nearly 400 people per day.
Monaghan said upon arrival the doctors and volunteers were greeted by people she described as quiet, patient and gentle.
The government of Cambodia escorted the group along with a television crew for the first two days of the trip.  
Materials donated to the mission were provided by Kindness in Action, a volunteer organization that provides dental care to the less fortunate.  Kindness in Action also provided the materials for Monaghan’s first project in Haiti.
Monaghan said that aside from Kindness in Action, there is a lack of humanitarian organizations that take in dentists.
“People don’t see a need for it,” said Monaghan. Oral hygiene is seen as minimal when compared to other health conditions.
Monaghan has worked in the dental field for over 22 years and has her own practice in Lethbridge.
In the future she hopes to pursue teaching part-time at the University of Lethbridge and participate in more volunteer work.
 “I am hoping to go back,” she says, “Maybe Senegal in West Africa in the fall.”
Monaghan says the experience is extremely rewarding and is the “best thing I’ve ever done in my life.”
She thinks if anyone gets the opportunity to help underdeveloped countries they should do so.
There is a great need for dentists in developing countries, which can be a challenge for the profession. With missions like project Cambodia, dental professionals are revolutionizing humanitarian aid one toothbrush at a time.