James Cook University (JCU) Dentistry students delivered smiles and skills to Far North Queensland earlier this month, running hands-on oral health workshops for children, seniors, and community members as part of the University's remote outreach initiative.
From brushing and flossing demonstrations at schools in Hope Vale and Cooktown to practical advice for seniors on denture care, and distributing over 250 oral health kits, the students helped break down fear around dental visits — while gaining the confidence themselves to consider rural practice.
Third-year JCU Dentistry student Parshast Sumbria said the initiative is about making oral health simple, approachable, and less intimidating.
"We showed school kids what a dental visit involves to help remove that stigma of it being loud and scary," he said.
The team provided a fun and accessible way for children to engage in the oral health message, with storytelling using dental animal puppets and large teeth costumes. This year was also the first outreach engagement with members of the '60s and Better' seniors activity centre.
"We talked about age adaptive brushing techniques, denture care and dry mouth management, which is a consequence of taking lots of medications," Mr Sumbria said.
"And they asked questions around what kind of sweeteners they could use in their tea and coffee and what products that they would be able to find in Cooktown to brush their teeth, because things like water flossers aren't readily available."
The visit also gave students insight into the challenges and rewards of regional health care. A tour of the Cooktown Multipurpose Health Service revealed there are only 14 dental chairs and five dentists servicing the region of Cooktown up to Thursday Island.
"It was humbling to see that even though there's so many advancements going on in dentistry and medicine, there's still that huge barrier to access them for people that live in rural and remote communities," Mr Sumbria said.
Alongside school visits, the students distributed oral health kits and toured the Cooktown hospital and dental clinic. Between sessions students explored local landmarks, including Grassy Hill Lookout, Finch Bay and the Botanic Gardens, fostering a deeper connection to the regional communities and towns.
Mr Sumbria said the initiative reduced fear on both sides and was very positive experience for everyone involved.
"For the community, it showed that dental care doesn't have to be scary," he said.
"For us as students, it removed the fear of the unknown about working in rural and remote places — we saw how rewarding it can be."
"I would really, really love if JCU kept it up because overall we had a really positive outlook on this outreach trip after we finished."
Activities were run at Lakeland State School, Hope Vale State School and Cooktown Community Centre. The program was supported by local hosts, with thanks to participating students: Demmi Eamer, Amber Im, Bernadette Kelly, Rachel Au-Yeung, Yunxi Teng, Stevi Herd, Parshast Sumbria and Amber Datt, and JCU staff Dr Kornelija Sfera, Gloria Silcock, Paula Pattinson and Nathan Lye.
The community outreach initiative is part of JCU Dentistry's broader focus of improving the oral health of our northern Queensland communities. To date, JCU has produced 836 dentists, the majority now working in regional, rural and remote locations, where they are most needed.
