Smiles & Hopes - Cambodia

Cambodia has undergone many changes since the Vietnam War extended into it and the end of the Khmer Rouge. Dental care was so reduced because of the Khmer Rouge that it has taken many years to rebuild training centres and facilities, which are in short supply.

With the help of the two dental universities in Phnom Penh the level of treatment, both preventative and curative has increased for the majority of Phnom Penh’s citizens. However, there are many children still without medical and dental health care because they were orphaned due the resulting poverty.

Smiles & Hopes Cambodia tackles the issue of providing dental and medical care and lasting dental education to orphans and soon to school children in our new SEAL CAMBODIA project launching January 2012.

The project is administrated by the Beacon Centre in Phnom Penh, the country’s capital.

Smiles & Hopes Cambodia provides the following to each child enrolled in the orphan programme:

• Relief of dental pain
• De-worming and de-licing
• Basic personal hygiene – hand washing, nail clipping, hair care
• Fissure sealants and Fluoride varnish – twice per year
• Toothbrushes and toothpaste
• Dental Health education
• Treatment of permanent teeth

We are trying to make a significant difference to both the oral and general health of these children – they deserve a better quality of life. However, we cannot do it alone – we need your support.

• £11.50 Sponsors one child on the programme for one year
• £160 Buys a First Aid Kit for an orphanage for one year
• £250 Buys a Health and Hygiene Care Kit, including soap, toothbrushes, toothpaste and worming medication for an orphanage for one year
• £650 Sponsors one large orphanage on the programme for one year

SEAL CAMBODIA is a new Smiles & Hopes Cambodia project launching in January 2012 and co-funded by CamKids – The Cambodia Children’s Charity. We have paired up to provide 60,000 children over the next three years with dental sealants, sometimes called fissure protection. The treatment will be for Phnom Penh primary schools, initially targeting 6-7 year olds.

Sealing provides each child with a greater protection against dental caries and oral pain in the long run because the sealant helps to strengthen teeth in children when they are at their most susceptible to decay. Studies show a 2/3 reduction in decay in children who have had their teeth sealed.

Each of our Smiles & Hopes partners will carry out this dental sealing in areas across the city, together treating a total of 20,000 children each year. This is expensive work that requires supplies and logistics. We are helped wonderfully by many volunteers in Cambodia but we still need funds to continue providing treatment for each of the children.

• £1 Sponsors one child for a year on the sealant programme

Maybe you could help seal 10!

If you would like to support either of our Smiles & Hopes Cambodia projects please visit our donate page in order to make your gift. Please send us an email (info@gcdfund.org) with your name and confirmation that you would like your donation to go to Smiles & Hopes Cambodia.

Smiles & Hopes Cambodia was established in 2010 as a collaboration between:

• The Cambodian Ministry of Health
• Faculty of Odonto-Stomatology, University of Health Sciences, Phnom Penh
• Faculty of Dentistry, International University, Phnom Penh
• The Cambodian Dental Association
• Cambodia World Family (CWF)
• One-2-One Cambodia
• GCDFund Cambodia
• Global Child Dental Fund