I was excited for the kids.

I quickly became terrified with the kids.

Now I am SOOOOO proud of the kids.

The dentist pulls into APCA around 10am and is greeted by a few dozen kids. He is accompanied by his hygienist wife and a Khmer dental student. They lug their dental equipment into the first floor main room and quickly begin their examinations. I suddenly realized this isn’t going to be such a great day.

There is no separation between the dentist’s chair, his help, and the kids. Maybe a dozen kids will be looking on, crowded around the poor kid whose turn it is to lie in the chair. There’s lots of chit-chat and I think some of the older, equally scared boys are trying to hide their discomfort and fear. It’s like they’re trying to say, “When I sit in that chair, my heart won’t pump a little faster. My toes won’t curl and I certainly won’t need a hand to clench.”  And then it’s their turn. They nervously grin as they are seated and the younger kids look on, hoping to be inspired. When they see his toes curl, though, the little ones become even more uncomfortable and frightened.

I’m on the third floor discussing lessons with the other volunteers. We hear screaming. Lots of it. Loud screaming that can be heard over the dentist’s drills and equipment. I jog down the stairs to see one of the smallest  9 year old girls in the dentist chair kicking her feet as her flailing arms are trying to be captured by the dental assistant. Immediately, I want to vomit. From my view on the second floor I can see the daunting blood-covered metal plyers half way in her mouth. Her poor crooked, rotten front teeth won’t be in her mouth much longer. Her eyes are glued shut but tears manage to escape like a river.  To see her in this much discomfort makes me sick.  However, we all know (including the children) that we should be thankful for the dentist coming to APCA and all the work he is doing.  I attempt to take a few pictures before I realize I don’t really want to remember this. I put the camera away.

The dentist’s gloves are bloody as he helps her sit up. Her fresh gauze is already soaked. I don’t know how many teeth were pulled, but it was more than one or two. She sits in the row of chairs a few yards from the dentist. We try to help her control her tears but all we can do is give her a cold towel as she is spitting blood into the garbage can.

This happens again thirty minutes later. Except this time it’s Rortha, the smallest ten year old boy you’ve ever seen. He is flailing around in the chair and screaming. As soon as the dentist sets his metal plyers (I know that’s not what they’re really called) down, Rortha tries to sit up on his own but he needs help. His eyelashes are covered in tears and there’s snot running down his chin. I sit with him on my lap for the next hour and try to help calm him down. We have to change the gauze every few minutes.

For the next few hours I try to help as much as I can; whether it’s holding their hand while being examined or wiping the saliva/blood mixture that has covered some parts of the floor. The kids who aren’t studying hover around the dentist, preparing themselves for when they’ll get called up.  Even though I’m not sitting in that chair, I share the same uncomfortable feelings as the kids: we’re all terrified, nauseous, and extremely nervous.  I later pull out bingo in hopes of providing some sort of distraction.

The dentist and his wife are great. They are from New Mexico and have been traveling around Cambodia doing this for the past few months. They are very friendly with the kids and do their best to reassure and comfort them in Khmer. Within five hours, they examine over fifty kids’ mouths!

I would guess at least half of the kids had at least one tooth pulled. I held my big kid class right after the dentist and his crew left. The APCA kids in the class who were freshly Novocain-ed were adamant about taking their spelling test. I gave them the option to take it next week, but none of them were interested. They explain to me that yes, the dentist ‘very hurts’, but if they do not go their teeth will only get worse.