7 steps to planning an outreach trip abroad

Are you looking to plan an outreach trip abroad? Whether you’d prefer to venture overseas for a few short weeks, or create an annual program with sustainable care, there are a few general items that should be on your to-do list. And let’s be honest: If you’re in dental school, you have a to-do list.

1. Establish a Trip: Do some research to find a trip that coincides with your vision, or even start a project of your own. If your goal is to travel abroad for a service trip, your dental school may already offer a way to experience dentistry in another country. For most students to travel, an adjunct faculty from their dental school must accompany the group, or a dentist that practices abroad must gain adjunct faculty status. Most trips devoted to healthcare (often accessible through a university’s pre-medical and predental programs) are happy to accommodate students and faculty that can make possible not only preventive measures, but also actual treatment of dental decay.

2. Find a Connection: Collaborating with local contacts and organizations is essential in serving your chosen community abroad. An in-country liaison can help promote your event or clinic to locals, find personnel to help coordinate the event and establish safe accommodations for travel and stay. Nonprofits such as Global Brigades are happy to include dentistry in their scope of care. Other options for in-country contacts can include local religious centers (Friaries, Temples), private practice dentists who are interested in free clinics, local dental schools and public hospitals.

3. Fundraise: Traveling abroad is expensive, especially for those who depend on loans to fund their schooling. Luckily, many people are willing to help you achieve your goals. When fundraising, create an expense sheet that establishes your financial aims and ensures transparency. Expenses of a trip include the costs of transport, accommodations, food/water and equipment. Large dental corporations are more than willing to give to your cause with oral hygiene products. Local providers can help, too. Try contacting your state dental association for advice on mailing in-state dentists for donations. If you can set-up your trip as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit group, you can even offer deductions for any donations made. Some dentists may offer to send monetary assistance, while others can contribute items such as instruments, local anesthetic and sterilization fluids.

4. Publicize: Publicity goes hand-in-hand with fundraising. As a nonprofit group, all trips are made possible through the donations of fellow international enthusiasts. Advertise your trip by creating a website or blog about the project and hosting benefit nights at local restaurants and bars for publicity of your cause. While in-country, blogging regularly ensures to benefactors that their donations are being put to good use. This creates a network of sponsors who can make your trip sustainable for years to come.
5. Do your Research: Each country has its own method of certification for health professionals. While some accept U.S. DDS/DMD licenses, others require applications to specific programs or do not allow foreign dentists to practice at all. Many countries in Eastern Africa (Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi) accept U.S. dental licenses, but require temporary registration and visa fees. Countries in Central America have similar requirements (Nicaragua requires a copy of your U.S. dental license sent to their Ministry of Health). However, be aware that not all countries are so lenient. In the United Kingdom, a U.S. dentist must pass the Overseas Registration Exam (an extensive written and clinical exam).

6. Apply for a Passport: Having an up-to-date passport is vital. Regardless of what you will be doing in a foreign country, first and foremost, you’ve got to be able to enter and exit. It takes four to six weeks to receive a passport after applying, or three weeks with expedited payment.

7. Ask for Help: Check out the official websites of various U.S. dental schools to find established trips for precedent, or identify fellow dental students that could help you jump-start a trip at your school. At the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Marc Weber, Katie Payne and Daniel Hoffstrander (Class of 2015) launched the UNC Uganda Project as first-year dental students. Hoffstrander’s biggest piece of advice to someone beginning a new international project? “Stay positive, remember why you’re doing this, and you will get there. The gratitude you will receive will be the greatest reward.”

~Kayta Avanesyan, North Carolina ’16, chapter webmaster