Passion with profession

Leentje gives an alternative view on dentistry, enticing young dentists to explore different options and combine their passion with their profession. 

"I am setting up a charity, free dental (emergency) treatment & education from a boat sailing the world. Maybe one day you may decide to join me"

A Little About Me

My name is Leentje Schade. It is an old fashioned Dutch name and you pronounce my name: Layn-che. While I am travelling, I use the name Angel, because it sounds similar and makes me sound angelic. While practising I never used my last name, which in Dutch means damage. Not the best association for a dentist.

I graduated dentistry in Amsterdam in 2006. I've worked as a general practising dentist for a few years. I love treating patients, making and keeping them pain free, educating them and make them proud of their own teeth.

In 2011 I took a long holiday to India, my first time to travel alone. On the beautiful remote Andaman islands I met a little boy with a big submandibular swelling. I asked him to open his mouth and saw that the 74 and 75 were deeply affected. I wanted to help him, but I had no instruments with me. I asked the local hospital for help, but they couldn't help either. It was a horrible feeling.

Sailing

I worked for a few more years before I quit my job to go sailing. This lifestyle brings you from place to place, all while you have your house with you. I sailed from Brasil to Trinidad and Tobago. I saw many beautiful and remote destinations. In Tobago I was offered a job as a dentist. There was no dentist in the village and everybody seemed to have very bad teeth. I never opened my own office in the Netherlands because it felt claustrophobic. To settle down in one city and know that I would work there forever, would scare me. This sounded like a better option; at least it was in a beautiful warm country. With apparently lots of willing patients. But the sailing had got me, and this is when I thought of an idea. Which is now my project; to treat people from a sailing boat. It all made perfect sense. I would be the sailing dentist.

I did what everybody wants to do. I combine what I love doing, with what I love doing! I don't know why not more dentists do it? I started googling and found a few projects doing something similar. It is important to have medical indemnity. There are rules and regulations and they are different in every country. This didn't deter me and I am in the beginning of setting up this project now.

It all makes perfect sense; there is hardly any overhead. I live and work on the boat. The boat carries me and my instruments from place to place for free. The solar panels can generate the electricity I need to operate. I will visit hard to reach places where no dentists go. The unit will be mobile, so I can even set up office in the middle of the bush. I can educate and treat people all around the world.

We have a great profession. We need to keep it that way. But sometimes in the Netherlands I felt it was all a luxury. We want to work in an office with the best chair, the best instruments, and the newest digital x-rays. The waiting area has to be filled with beautiful pictures and design furniture.

In other parts of the world it is a whole different story. People are in pain for years. I am truly grateful for the education I had but I want to spend a part of my career as a dentist to people who do not know such luxuries, (the design nor education). I hope that with this story I have inspired you to reach for your dreams, but also think about the less fortunate in this world. I have never felt more passion for anything in my life.