Dr. hasnain Dewji

Globe-trotting dentistry

This dentist is still getting on a plane, providing dental care to those in dire need

Like other dental clinics across canada, Dr. hasnain Dewji’s pediatric practice was shut down mid-march 2020, re-opening nearly three months later at the end of June. The closure affected the young British columbian patients at his two clinics: aBc Dental in mission and abbotsford children’s Dentistry, as well as clients in the Northwest Territories, where he is an associate pediatric dentist.

Dewji resumed his 10-day, monthly trips up north last October. Each trip was an odyssey of byzantine proportions with flight cancellations, delays of up to three days, overnight stays in places en route like Edmonton, then mandatory cOViD-19 testing upon arrival. Early this year, air canada suspended flights to Yellowknife, and Dewji had to source flights through airlines like inuit-owned canadian North and the ultra low-cost Swoop. “Flights,” Dewji says dryly, “are a nightmare.” it’s a bit of a nightmare for Dewji’s patients as well, who often have to fly into Yellowknife for dental care from isolated northern communities across canada. Delays caused by cOViD-19 have resulted in a backlog of patients and “what teeth we could have saved six months ago are now un-saveable,” Dewji says. a brother and sister pair, for example, spent nearly a day in the dental chair. One sibling needed 16 fillings and two extractions while the other one required 12 fillings and one extraction. The lengthy procedures were anxiety-inducing, but “everybody was really happy afterwards,” Dewji says. like clinics across the country, Dewji and his dental staff are making other adjustments to ensure cOViD-19 isn’t transmitted within the office. pre-cOViD, a trip to the pediatric dentist might mean an outing for the entire family, including grandparents. Now, a parent and child must wait in their vehicle to be buzzed in only when the preceding patient is gone, and fresh personal protection Equipment (ppE) is donned by workers. cOViD-19 has significantly curtailed Dewji’s other passion: providing health care to children and orphans in war-torn countries like Syria, afghanistan and iraq through his charity, Global Kindness Foundation (GKF). his 17th GKF trip to iraq in march 2020 was derailed by cOViD-19; he and 72 volunteers (dentists, physicians, optometrists and support staff) had to cancel plane tickets. most of the tickets weren’t refundable and Dewji lost $9,000 in cancelled flights. another trip, set for June 2020 to Syria—the first time GKF had organized a mission to that warravaged nation—was also cancelled. Dewji’s team had planned to treat preschool kids in a suburb in the capital of Damascus, travelling by road from lebanon into Syria with equipment and personnel.

Through GKF, Dewji has also led dental, medical, optical and hearing clinics in peru, Tanzania, Kenya, india, haiti and cambodia. The volunteers often work 14hour days, ensuring each young patient benefits from the highest canadian dental and health standards. many of the children from places like afghanistan and iraq are also suffering chronic psychological problems from war, something GKF is not yet able to assist with.

Dewji’s international work hasn’t completely been curtailed. he managed in early 2020 to travel to GKF’s clinic in india, arriving one day before the southeast asian country closed its borders to incoming travellers. Dewji and his staff returned to canada by the skin of their teeth, arriving home two days before international borders were shuttered. Since then, he has tried undertaking telemedicine with the caregivers of young iraqi patients, looking at photos over the phone and making recommendations about whether the child might need antibiotics or more invasive care from a local dentist.

The dire situation wrought by cOViD-19 in other countries has spurred Dewji into action, even if it is from afar. Early this year, Dewji began arranging to send ventilators to help cOViD-19 patients in lebanon. Following a surge in cOViD-19 cases in the middle Eastern country after the christmas holidays, lebanon (with a population of 6.8 million people) was in a state of economic and medical collapse. more than 1,000 people died of cOViD-19 in January and hospitals were running out of medicine as

well as equipment like Bipaps, a positive pressure ventilator. “There’s quite a few export restrictions on ventilators right now, so it’s been a bit of a challenge, but i think logistically we’re getting somewhere,” Dewji says.

Dewji is looking forward to late 2021, when he can (hopefully) resume his international endeavours alongside dental assistant wife Fatemah, who spends 400 or so hours organizing each GKF mission. “i’m addicted to volunteer work,” says the father of five, one of whom is also a dentist. Dewji is motivated by a devotion to children who, no matter where they are in the world, want only the same two simple things. “Kids want to be happy and playful. and the other thing i’ve noticed? if you hand them an ipad—even if they never have seen one before—they can figure it out. it’s hilarious, and mind boggling.”

Dr. Hasnain Dewji during his last mission to Afghanistan just before the pandemic hit