A Message from our Founder Dr. Robert Renner
KIDS International Dental Services (KIDS) dental mission to Cambodia began in 2005.. My personal reasons for choosing to work in Cambodia are several; as a generational member of the Vietnam era I have a deep desire to give back to this country for the injustices that the U.S. enabled here, including genocide, indiscriminate bombings, and the U.S. support of puppet regimes and subsequent benign neglect of the populace. In a country of stark contrasts and visual beauty, the gentle nature of the Cambodians masks deep underlying poverty and disintegration of the family structure due to HIV/AIDS. Cambodia is a country where 1 of 14 individuals is an orphan. There is little food to eat, complete lack of basic sanitation, medical or dental services and education. Child exploitation and child labor is the norm.
While many NGO’s work in Cambodia, KIDS has been a constant presence working in and
around the capitol of Phnom Penh and in rural areas of the country, providing pro bono dental care to Cambodian orphans. KIDS works with many NGOs, including People Improvement Organization http://peopleimprovement.org/, Riverkids http://www.riverkidsproject.org/, and COLT http://www.colt-cambodia.org/en/index.htm on an annual basis to provide basic dental care which these children otherwise would not receive. KIDS treats an average of 1100 children per mission trip. Consistent with our long term work in other countries, KIDS notes that as its dental presence continues with these orphans over time, the numbers of emergencies and extractions diminish as overall oral health improves, allowing KIDS more time to provide preventive and restorative services such as sealants and ART restorations. The KIDS professional team is comprised of individuals from around the globe. Our international dental team joins us from California, New York, Cambodia, The Netherlands and Japan. Under the leadership of several senior dentists, dental residents and dental students perform most of the restorative and surgical procedures. Additionally non dental team mebers are trained to perform preventive techniques, such as fluoride application and post operative surgical assistants. Other team members provide registration, crowd control, provide preventive dental instruction to the children and conduct recreation for the children while they wait for surgery. It is heartwarming to see a group of 30 or more highly trained volunteers working for a common good, keeping in mind that the interests of the children always come first.