Four USC School of Dentistry students spent their spring break on a service-learning adventure of a lifetime, traveling to Vietnam to lend their talents to communities in need.

Mary Pham, Linda Ngo, Don Nguyen and Joey Pedram, all third-year dental students, ventured overseas in April, representing the school’s first “externship” in Vietnam.

Pham and Ngo arrived first to participate in a clinic sponsored by the East Meets West Foundation, a nonprofit dental care organization.

From the city of Da Nang, the young women traveled with foundation staffers and other volunteers over country roads to the Hung Vuong Primary School in the rural Quang Nam Province, where they set up the clinic.

Over the next five days, Pham and Ngo worked with other volunteers to examine and treat more than 400 students, ages 4 to 12. Five stations were set up at the school to efficiently provide cleanings, fillings, sealants, extractions and anesthesia.

“We had some kids who would jump right into the chair, excited to be seen by a dentist,” Pham said.

“The children called us ‘Co,’ which means ‘Auntie’ in Vietnamese,” Ngo said.

Pham and Ngo also delivered dental prizes for the children and other supplies donated by the USC Vietnamese Dental Students Association. They also left the children with 100 toothbrushes and tubes of toothpaste donated by the USC School of Dentistry’s clinical affairs department.

The reception by the community was “amazing,” Ngo said.

The school principal, a local health official and a local councilman came to welcome the group. On the last day of the clinic, the principal and local government officials treated the East Meets West volunteers to a dinner, karaoke singing and a boat ride to show their appreciation for the foundation’s care of the youngsters of the community.

Pham and Ngo spent another two days volunteering in the foundation’s dental clinic in Da Nang. When their work was finished there, they met up with Nguyen and Pedram, who had arrived in Ho Chi Minh City.

The four of them toured the city’s University of Odonto-Stomatology and other medical facilities before spending a few days treating dental patients.

This new relationship with the Ho Chi Minh City University was made possible by a Memorandum of Understanding between the university and USC’s dental school. It is one many MOUs the USC school has signed with universities around the world to share talent and research capabilities.

Eugene Sekiguchi, associate dean for international, professional and legislative affairs at the School of Dentistry, is leading this effort, which has resulted in 17 MOUs and several more in progress.

The dental students witnessed some unusual differences in dental care in Vietnam. For example, dentists took off their shoes at the clinic door and slipped on sandals as a means of preventing cross-contamination. There was also a limited number of some supplies and medicine, and anesthesia was used only for certain procedures, Nguyen said.

“Anesthesia was only used for root canal treatments and extractions,” he said.

Because motorcycles are the vehicles of choice in Vietnam, Nguyen said the hospital in Ho Chi Minh City would treat about 100 patients each day who had been in motorcycle accidents.

Oral surgeons would perform nearly 20 surgeries a day and “90 percent of the surgeries were motorbike-related trauma head injuries and occlusal adjustments of the jaw,” Nguyen said.

Pedram said he enjoyed his time working with children in the university’s pediatric department.

“It was wonderful and even further made me appreciate the skills we learn at USC,” he said. “To be able to work on kids that speak another language and help them receive adequate dental care helped me further my confidence in the field of pediatric dentistry.”

While working in the clinics and just traveling about the city, the volunteers said they had the sense they stood out as foreigners, even though Pham, Ngo and Nguyen are second-generation Vietnamese-Americans.

The three speak conversational Vietnamese, but they said locals could pick up on their unique accents and American mannerisms. Ngo had traveled to Vietnam when she was 6 years old, but it was a first-time experience for Pham and Nguyen.

Also standing out in a big way was Pedram, who is 6 feet, 3 inches tall. Pedram caught a stomach bug during the trip, so Nguyen accompanied him to a hospital for treatment.

“Everyone, even the doctor, was looking at Joey with wide eyes, like, ‘Who is this giant?’ ” Nguyen said with a laugh.

Pedram recovered, and during time off, the students toured Ho Chi Minh City’s tourist sites and dined on exotic cuisine in a variety of restaurants.

They also enjoyed a daylong canoe trip in the lush Mekong Delta. A young boy and an elderly woman steered their small boats through the complex river system that empties into the sea.

All four said the Vietnam trip was one of the most remarkable experiences in their lives, and they look forward to returning to visit many new friends.

“It was such a humbling experience to step out of our comfort zone to work with colleagues from around the world,” Ngo said. “It’s a great feeling to know that we have skills that cross borders.”

Said Pham, “It was definitely a life-changing and invaluable experience for me. I am now even more driven to learn about what I can do to contribute to the dental profession not only in America but worldwide.”

For more information about service-learning opportunities with the East Meets West Foundation, visit www.eastmeetswest.org.

For more information about international externships, contact Eugene Sekiguchi at sekiguch@usc.edu.