Dr Garret Robles has a mobile dentist clinic serving north-western Queensland, as well as multiple other roles in Townsville.
Story + Photos Ken Eastwood
On the Flinders Highway, out around Hughenden, Richmond and Julia Creek in north-western Queensland, you may spot an almost pure white, 7.5m leisure van being towed. Apart from a logo on the spare wheel, you’d have no reason to suspect this is actually a highly kitted out moving dentist surgery, with its own waiting room, that has been serving the people of rural and remote Queensland for 8 years, travelling 50,000km a year.
Dubbed the ‘POD’ (for ‘Project Outback Dental’), it’s the brainchild of dentist Garret Robles, an extraordinarily busy fellow whose practice sees him moving between the outback, 2 half days a week at the Townsville Aboriginal and Islander Health Service (TAIHS), the Mater Private Hospital and his own private practice, MYTOOTHDOCTOR.
Growing up in the Philippines, initially on a farm where his family grew rice and had cattle and water buffalo, Garret developed an affinity with rural people. Then, when his family moved to Sorsogon City, a denture-making business rented premises from his great-grandmother. “And that’s sort of how I got interested in dentistry,” he says. Garret was studious and his academic prowess saw him come first in the country in dentistry when he graduated from the University of the Philippines in 2001.
But with that success at university came an expectation of ‘giving back’. “The University of the Philippines is the only national university in the country and has an ethos of ‘Giving yourself to service’. You are allowed to get the best education possible, but the expectation is that you serve. You might get all these medals and awards, but does it really have an impact on people?”
This story excerpt is from Issue #156
Outback Magazine: August/September 2024
