Dental outreach elective placements in South America, Africa and Asia
Add a new challenge to your dentistry work placement or elective by spending a couple of weeks on one of our pioneering dental outreach projects. Working from temporary dental clinics you will conduct a screening and referral programme for a community that otherwise has little or no access to dental health care. This is then followed up by free treatment either at a well-equipped surgery, temporary hospital treatment rooms or at a village clinic in which we provide the dental equipment.
Working with rural communities is a great experience and the dental outreach programme is ideal for elective students or recently qualified dentists wanting to gain substantial experience of clinical procedures, especially extractions and restorations, in challenging conditions. The dentistry outreach project will be invaluable for both professional and personal development, as well as really standing out on your C.V.
As with our regular dental elective placements, our aim is to take all the hassle out of organizing an overseas placement, by providing you with the following:
- Extensive support from our staff, both at home and overseas
- Local accommodation with other outreach students
- All your meals
- All necessary transportation and transfers
- A dental outreach supervisor
My placement
The experiences you will have on the dental outreach are likely to be vastly different from anything you are used to. Working from temporary dental clinics you will conduct a screening and referral programme for a rural community that otherwise has little or no access to dental health care. You can therefore expect to see far more advanced cases than you would typically see in a domestic setting.
Itineraries are dependent on the number of cases that visit us and need referring, but as a guide we usually begin with screening primary aged children. Once we have enough referral cases, part of the team will return to begin treatments. The remainder continue screenings, offering them to other members of the community if there is time. Both groups will then come together to complete treatments.
You can expect to be busy. Last year our teams screened and treated over 10,000 people.
The idea of this project is to have elective students carry out as much of the clinical work as possible, and so while Work the World organises all the logistics of each project, responsibility for clinical supervision lies with qualified local dentists. As with all our placements, what your supervisor allows you to do will depend on the level of trust and respect you can earn by demonstrating your abilities and confidence, but the opportunity is there to really get some hands-on experience.
Food, accommodation and local staff
Accommodation is in local guesthouses or at the Work the World house. All transport to the project base is included, as well as all meals. Depending on where you are, meals and facilities can be quite basic but living in a rural community means that there simply isn’t access to some of your normal creature comforts. We regularly monitor accommodation to ensure it is secure, clean and comfortable with running water and electricity.
Free time and travel opportunities
Working overseas gives you the unique opportunity to experience life in another country and we have chosen destinations that give you access to miles of beautiful beaches, stunning rainforests, amazing wildlife, beautiful natural wonders, rich cultures and warm, friendly people.
Many students are concerned about travelling alone, but one of the benefits of joining the dental outreach team is the community that it creates. There is always someone keen to do something, and groups regularly form up to travel at weekends.
Due to rural nature of the Outreach locations, travel links will not always be as convenient as they might be for students on our normal elective placements. However, there will always be somewhere to head for during the weekends, be it a beautiful coastline, a mountain retreat or a local traveler hangout. Our local staff will be able to provide you with information to assist you in planning out where you to go and what to do.
