Dr. Robert Arbuckle, a Wilton dentist, is working in Cambodia with Healing the Children, a nonprofit agency that provides medical care to children in developing countries. (Paul Desmarais/Staff photo)By Alison Damast
Staff Writer
The Advocate (Stamford, Connecticut, USA)
November 25 2006
WILTON - Dr. Robert Arbuckle was packing two suitcases for a flight out of Newark Liberty International Airport yesterday morning. One suitcase was full of clothes and another was stuffed with drills, sterilization solution and portable dental units.
The dentist, a Wilton resident, was heading to Cambodia with a team of 14 dentists, hygienists and oral surgeons who will perform restorative dental work on children.
"If we're in pain and want a dentist in the U.S, we don't even think twice about going," Arbuckle, a cosmetic and restorative dentist who practices at Wilton Dental Care on Old Ridgefield Road, said during a telephone interview Wednesday. "But there, the access to health care is not comparable to what we have here."
Arbuckle, 42, is traveling to Cambodia as a volunteer with Healing the Children, a Connecticut-based nonprofit agency that provides medical and dental care to children in developing countries.
The volunteer medical and surgical health professionals travel at their own expense and collect medical supplies and donations for doctors in the countries they visit.
Arbuckle is part of a team that expects to treat 600 children in Pursat, Battambang and Siem Reap, poor rural provinces where children lack basic medical care. In Siem Reap, they will work at the Angkor Hospital For Children and train local dentists on the latest medical procedures.
Many children in these areas are malnourished and eat just one meal a day, said Dana Buffin, executive director of Healing the Children. Some have tooth infections that make it painful to eat.
"This affects a child's ability to nourish themselves and affects their gums and oral health," Buffin said. "They can't chew properly and eating is uncomfortable, and it can escalate from there."
Most of the dentists on the trip, including Arbuckle, have experience working with children in developing countries. Arbuckle traveled to Brazil in 1998, during his first year of dental residency at Bronx-Lebanon Hospital Center in New York City.
He had just graduated from New York University's College of Dentistry and wanted to combine his passion for traveling with his dental expertise.
"It is a way of seeing the world in a really interesting way," Arbuckle said. "Helping people you don't even know is a really cool experience and it makes you feel like you are giving something back."
Arbuckle faced less than ideal conditions in remote villages in Amazonas, the largest state in Brazil.
He worked in one area where authorities had to shut down the town's electrical supply to provide power for two dental drills.
The people he treated had sweet diets and drank unchlorinated water, factors that contributed to their poor oral health, he said.
Arbuckle said he will face similar conditions in Cambodia. Over the next 10 days, he and other dentists will work long hours in small schoolhouses, using desks and chairs to prop children up as they extract teeth, fill cavities and treat infected teeth. Deflated soccer balls will serve as head rests for the patients.
After an operation, children will receive a "bag of love" containing a bracelet and a Beanie Baby.
The experience can be challenging for the volunteer dentists, Buffin said.
"They give up quite a lot, but I think they get out of it so much in return because I think they get to go back to the purity of their skill," Buffin said.
Arbuckle learned about Healing the Children at a dental conference last fall and got in touch with the team leader for the Cambodia trip, Dr. Greg Kaiser, an oral surgeon from New Jersey.
Arbuckle has proved to be an enthusiastic volunteer, arranging a deal that will allow Healing the Children to receive the air mileage points that volunteers accrue during the 27-hour journey to Cambodia, Buffin said. This will allow the agency to pay expenses of future medical volunteers who can't afford air fare, she said.
"He is really digging in and seeing what he can do to help out and see where he can make the trip better," Buffin said of Arbuckle. "It goes above and beyond just going as a volunteer and paying your way."
Arbuckle also volunteers closer to home, working as a dentist for Give Back a Smile, a national organization based in Wisconsin that helps victims of domestic violence.
Though this is his first trip with Healing the Children, Arbuckle has his eye on future journeys. He wants to become a team leader for the group and eventually lead his own team of dentists to a developing country.
He is looking forward to the group's trip to Madagascar next year.
"I'm going to try to do one every year and if I can do one every year for 20 years, I figure I'll see the world," Arbuckle said.
The dentist, a Wilton resident, was heading to Cambodia with a team of 14 dentists, hygienists and oral surgeons who will perform restorative dental work on children.
"If we're in pain and want a dentist in the U.S, we don't even think twice about going," Arbuckle, a cosmetic and restorative dentist who practices at Wilton Dental Care on Old Ridgefield Road, said during a telephone interview Wednesday. "But there, the access to health care is not comparable to what we have here."
Arbuckle, 42, is traveling to Cambodia as a volunteer with Healing the Children, a Connecticut-based nonprofit agency that provides medical and dental care to children in developing countries.
The volunteer medical and surgical health professionals travel at their own expense and collect medical supplies and donations for doctors in the countries they visit.
Arbuckle is part of a team that expects to treat 600 children in Pursat, Battambang and Siem Reap, poor rural provinces where children lack basic medical care. In Siem Reap, they will work at the Angkor Hospital For Children and train local dentists on the latest medical procedures.
Many children in these areas are malnourished and eat just one meal a day, said Dana Buffin, executive director of Healing the Children. Some have tooth infections that make it painful to eat.
"This affects a child's ability to nourish themselves and affects their gums and oral health," Buffin said. "They can't chew properly and eating is uncomfortable, and it can escalate from there."
Most of the dentists on the trip, including Arbuckle, have experience working with children in developing countries. Arbuckle traveled to Brazil in 1998, during his first year of dental residency at Bronx-Lebanon Hospital Center in New York City.
He had just graduated from New York University's College of Dentistry and wanted to combine his passion for traveling with his dental expertise.
"It is a way of seeing the world in a really interesting way," Arbuckle said. "Helping people you don't even know is a really cool experience and it makes you feel like you are giving something back."
Arbuckle faced less than ideal conditions in remote villages in Amazonas, the largest state in Brazil.
He worked in one area where authorities had to shut down the town's electrical supply to provide power for two dental drills.
The people he treated had sweet diets and drank unchlorinated water, factors that contributed to their poor oral health, he said.
Arbuckle said he will face similar conditions in Cambodia. Over the next 10 days, he and other dentists will work long hours in small schoolhouses, using desks and chairs to prop children up as they extract teeth, fill cavities and treat infected teeth. Deflated soccer balls will serve as head rests for the patients.
After an operation, children will receive a "bag of love" containing a bracelet and a Beanie Baby.
The experience can be challenging for the volunteer dentists, Buffin said.
"They give up quite a lot, but I think they get out of it so much in return because I think they get to go back to the purity of their skill," Buffin said.
Arbuckle learned about Healing the Children at a dental conference last fall and got in touch with the team leader for the Cambodia trip, Dr. Greg Kaiser, an oral surgeon from New Jersey.
Arbuckle has proved to be an enthusiastic volunteer, arranging a deal that will allow Healing the Children to receive the air mileage points that volunteers accrue during the 27-hour journey to Cambodia, Buffin said. This will allow the agency to pay expenses of future medical volunteers who can't afford air fare, she said.
"He is really digging in and seeing what he can do to help out and see where he can make the trip better," Buffin said of Arbuckle. "It goes above and beyond just going as a volunteer and paying your way."
Arbuckle also volunteers closer to home, working as a dentist for Give Back a Smile, a national organization based in Wisconsin that helps victims of domestic violence.
Though this is his first trip with Healing the Children, Arbuckle has his eye on future journeys. He wants to become a team leader for the group and eventually lead his own team of dentists to a developing country.
He is looking forward to the group's trip to Madagascar next year.
"I'm going to try to do one every year and if I can do one every year for 20 years, I figure I'll see the world," Arbuckle said.
4 comments:
Many thanks to Dr. Robert Arbuckle and his colleagues for their humanitarian mission to perform restorative dental work on Cambodian children. Best wishes
God bless Dr. Robert Arbuckle and his family!
Nice to see your star shining so brightly Rob! I am proud to have known you "back in the day" Keep shining!
Thanks for great information you write it very clean. I am very lucky to get this tips from you
Dentist in Wilton
Post a Comment