In this continuing feature, we profile members integral to the success of Filling the Gap. This month, we profile dedicated volunteers Dr Junette Burke and ACT-based dentist Dr Michael Yang who have gone above and beyond to help others. 

After graduating from university in 1987, Dr Junette Burke’s career began when she was working at Westmead Hospital which offered great training.

She worked in private practice and bought a dental practice with her husband in 1990 (aged 26) and “there we have stayed to learn and grow, egging each other on,” she said. Dr Burke is now based in Engadine.

“We have relished the privilege of caring for our local people and their parents, children, grandchildren and a few great grandchildren now,” she said.

“This year, I marvel at the number of patients showing up in their ‘90s and oh what a privilege to gently support them 35 years on at this unique stage of their life! Our patients have mentored us along the way in ways unimaginable.”

Over the years, Dr Burke observed how Dr David Digges has been instrumental in helping to bring FTG to life. Her personal vision is also aligned with helping those in need and in difficult situations.

She sees FTG patients at her practice and said the work of the dental charity is absolutely life changing in personal and lasting ways.

“I have seen absolutely broken people heal, smile, regain confidence, and much more,” she said. “They have the courage to take on a job, and try something even more challenging,” she said.
“One patient took her two boys on their first holiday. First the black teeth changed and her children looked at mum differently, then she created her own business as a cleaner. She managed that so well raising two kids.

“Then came that first holiday. Not long after that she becomes a counsellor as she has triumphed over so much personal tragedy! Now she is investigating a job in another state to create a better life for herself and her children.

“An extraordinary evolution from the person I met as an embarrassed reclining personality on the first visit.

“Filling the Gap introduces me to people who truly need help and allows me to focus on their dental needs. I really value the lab costs being donated as that allows me to help more people.”

Dr Burke said she is grateful for the organisation as there was a patient she met via personal links who needed dental help for much of his life.

“He was just over 20 years old when I began treating him, with 32 perfect teeth. He passed away with COVID recently,” Dr Burke said.

“As his mental health, diet, personal care and general health declined I found myself doing unending restorations, then came root canals and extractions, then crowns, more extractions. Then dentures.

“His family stopped covering the gap between his health fund and treatment costs early in time. So over time I tried to keep his teeth going. Then as health deteriorated, he was transitioned to complete dentures. The latter was a costly burden each time with tooth additions, repairs when broken and new dentures when he lost them!

“The connection I had with family members made this long patient care a challenge and makes me always grateful for the space that Filling the Gap provides with patients and the laboratory support that is given.”

Born in South Korea, Dr Michael Yang emigrated to Australia at age 12. He graduated in dentistry from The University of Sydney in 1994.

Dr Yang worked concurrently in private practices in Bathurst and Sydney for two years. He settled down in Young in regional NSW in 1997 and ran his own practice until 2005. While in Young, he ran practices concurrently at West Wyalong and Cootamundra.

“I learnt how the people in the country or outside of major cities were somewhat disadvantaged in a lot of ways,” he said of his time in Young.

“There is a general lack of services for the people living in the country that the city people are not always aware of.”

He moved to Canberra in 2005 and opened his own practice the year after. He has been working in private practice since. Dr Yang said the benefits of living in a regional area are that communities are often close-knit and you get to know the people and region well.

“I still have some loyal patients who come and see me from Young even though it’s been over 20 years since I left!” he said.

Through his career, Dr Yang has undertaken short overseas mission work in Bangladesh and Mongolia to help people in desperate need of any dental treatment.

“In those countries, we worked under very basic conditions with limited treatment options such as extractions and temporary fillings,” he said.

“But for some of those people, it was the only dental treatment they received in their entire life.”

Dr Yang is passionate about helping young adolescents and adults in need so they can be better educated about dentistry and not fear seeing the dentist to have regular dental visits before problems worsen. He works with a group called Raw Potential for at-risk youth in Canberra.

Dr Yang has been involved with the ADA Dental Health Foundation (ADA DHF) volunteering since 2016. He likes to provide the work at his own practice where he is comfortable and familiar with the materials and equipment. ADA DHF programs are coordinated by Filling the Gap in NSW and the ACT.

Over the years, he has done half days or full days but now he is seeing a few patients over a course of a few weeks every six months or so. Dr Yang treated a young lady who didn’t want to smile in photos because she had chipped and broken teeth from a trauma in her life.

With relatively simple restorative work provided, he received feedback she is able to smile again in photos.

Or a young man who had multiple carious teeth and was afraid to see a dentist but, after receiving some treatment, felt more confident about their teeth and less nervous about seeing a dentist.

“Every volunteering work will make a difference to that particular patient,” Dr Yang said.

“We may not save the world but hopefully pass on some positivity to others who witness or experience the generosity so that hopefully they will do the same in a small way to others who are in need.

“Most dentists go into the profession because we want to help people and I’m sure a lot of us do pro bono work or extend generosity to certain patients who need a break in their life.

“To those who are considering it, it’s a very worthy service, no matter how small.”

Learn more >

To volunteer or donate to Filling the Gap, and to see how this dental charity has transformed lives, visit www.fillingthegap.com.au