By the time Dr. Brett Richins arrived in Cambodia, he was already worn out.
Not from dentistry, but from the travel required to reach patients who rarely, if ever, see a dental provider. His trip was 12 days end to end, with roughly 80 hours spent in transit.
Dr. Richins is part of a volunteer group that has been returning to Cambodia consistently for two decades. While many of the clinicians have been part of the effort year after year, this was his first time traveling with the team. The opportunity finally aligned for Dr. Richins after years of timing constraints and limited openings.
Members of the team traveling to Cambodia, including Dr. Richins, top row, sixth from the left.
The team had eight days in Cambodia, five of which were devoted entirely to clinical care. Each clinic day started early, leaving the hotel at 7:00 a.m., and ended around 6:00 p.m., after a full day of treatment delivered at pace.
“It was hard,” Richins says with a smile, fondly remembering the humanitarian trip only a few days after returning to the U.S. “That’s harder than I work and more hours than I work in a normal week.”
The clinic model in Cambodia was built around triage, clear priorities, and a constant balancing act. The objectives were to stabilize pain, preserve permanent dentition when possible, and deliver prevention that could outlast a short-term visit.
As a group, the team treated more than 400 patients over the course of the trip. With five dentists participating, Dr. Richins estimates his individual patient volume somewhere between 80 and 90.
The structure was consistent and intentional. One dentist would rotate through triage, reviewing radiographs, assessing the patient, and deciding what could realistically be done given time and resources. “We couldn’t do everything for most the patients,” Richins says. This reality shaped every decision. Pain and infection were the first filter. If a tooth was infected or causing acute pain, it moved to the top of the list. “That would always be our top priority, if they were in pain.”
A patient being treated by one of the clinicians participating in the humanitarian trip.
From triage, the workflow aimed to minimize idle time. Patients were anesthetized early, routed through hygiene, and then seated for operative treatment already numb.
The team’s work centered on what could create durable impact:
“We did a lot of saving permanent molars that were near needing root canals,” Richins says.
In some of the cases, restoring front teeth was not only about function, it was about confidence, employability, and the social consequences of visible decay. “Hospitality is one of the biggest industries” Richins says of the area. “Having a good smile is really important for finding a good livelihood.”
Most of the team’s patients were children and much of the work took place in schools. The atmosphere, Dr. Richins recalls, was unexpectedly energizing. When the team arrived each day, kids lined the hallways for high fives. One day, the students even sang to the clinicians as they walked in. “You felt like an NBA basketball player,” Richins says.
Dr. Richins interacting with Cambodian children during the humanitarian trip.
One case that stands out to Dr. Richins involved a boy around seven or eight with a mesiodens, a supernumerary tooth between erupting permanent incisors. The boy’s father said he got teased about it and felt embarrassed.
Patient presenting his mesiodens to Dr. Richins.
When the tooth came out, the reaction was immediate: “He just jumped up smiling, so happy,” Richins says. The boy returned the next day. Not for more treatment, but to say thank you. “He came by and ran in and gave me and my assistant a big hug.”
While Dr. Richins and the team did everything they could for patients while in Cambodia, the team knew education about diet, oral hygiene, and prevention would be crucial to the long-term well-being of the patients they saw. “The education and understanding of dental health and prevention is where I think the highest need is,” he says. To address what they could in the moment, the team leaned heavily on hygienists and translators for oral hygiene instruction, brushing demonstrations, and dietary counseling.
The team at one of the schools they visited. Dr. Richins is top row, far right.
“It’s hard when you do a bunch of work and leave and you don’t know how people feel afterwards,” he says, acknowledging one of the hard realities of short-term care: limited follow-up. In one instance, he did get follow-up: a child returned the next day after a large restoration, and through a translator, reported the difference clearly: “my tooth feels so much better… I was able to eat with that part of my mouth.”
Dr. Brett Richins completed his undergraduate degree in biomedical engineering at the University of Utah, followed by his dental education at the University of Pittsburgh School of Dental Medicine, where he earned his DMD in 2012. In 2025, he furthered his education by completing an Executive MBA at the University of Utah, enhancing his expertise in dental practice management and leadership.
He has been practicing dentistry in Lehi, Utah, for over 12 years and is a founding partner of a multi-location group practice that integrates general and pediatric dental care. In addition to private practice, Dr. Richins is the director of clinical affairs at Ultradent Products, Inc., where he collaborates on the development and evaluation of dental materials and technologies.
Outside of dentistry, Dr. Richins enjoys spending time with his wife of over 20 years and their four children. He’s an avid outdoorsman and finds balance through mountain biking, hiking, snowboarding, and exploring the red rock landscapes of the Southern Utah.