"Mike the Molar" and "Cody the Dental Dog"

While the MMF Operating Room and Clinic in San Lucas have been hopping with patients, the MMF San Lucas Dental Team has been on the go non-stop. 

MMF Mission veterans, Mike and Cindy, encouraged their son Paul and his wife Lisa, a dentist, to join this MMF mission to San Lucas to help meet dental care needs here. Paul and Lisa really sunk their teeth into the task. (Sorry, couldn’t help a few dental puns). 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lisa has conducted full days of exams in nearby villages Salcaja and San Juan, and has provided much-needed services including extractions and fillings. 

Lisa described the dental health situation in rural Guatemala. There’s rampant early childhood caries, which pretty much means decay throughout all teeth. In the US, if the same situation was detected, the affected child would be put under general anesthesia to have fillings, extractions and all necessary restorative treatment  all at once. Here, the child would most likely live in pain until the teeth simply break or fall out. Here, it is often assumed that it is just normal that you will eventually lose your teeth. MMF and other medical missions are working along with local dental professionals to help change that myth.  

According to Dr. Lisa, many adults and children also have chronic infections and acute swellings in their mouths, which can then spread to other parts of the body. The majority of children have at least two teeth that are hurting at any one time. Many of the parents report to Lisa during the child’s exam that their child is unwilling to eat, or will only chew on one side of their mouth. 

As she cares for the children and adult patients, in most cases, Lisa’s making the decision about which tooth is (or few teeth are) the worst and need to be pulled or deciding if certain can be saved. Although the constant struggle is that much more “could be done” than we can ever manage to do with the time and limited resources we have available, there is no doubt that each time a patient leaves Lisa’s chair, they’re leaving grateful and relieved to have their pain alleviated and to be able to eat, talk, play and work well once again. 

On Tuesday, the Dental Team traveled with Dr. Will to nearby Opal House Mission, where Will and his wife Diane care for and teach many local children. Paul and Lisa, along with “Mike the Molar” as we’ve started to call him, provided much-needed dental education to children and their mothers. They emphasized the need to brush their teeth twice a day and make good choices about what to eat and drink. In addition to lack of adequate dental health care, nutrition is a major contributor to poor dental health in rural Guatemala. Cody the Dental Dog joined in the fun and served as a visual way to show the children how to brush their teeth and tongue.

 Children and their families received tooth brushes and tooth paste to take home, along with coloring books about the importance of taking good care of your teeth. Lisa provided dental exams for all children in attendance, and diagnosed 12 that will be seen today in San Lucas for additional dental care. 

Needless to say, it was a day full of smiles for the team and the people they served.

 

 

Comments

[Nathan Bedingfield]

That is so generous on your part. Dental problems are very common in third world countries, where some governments are unable to provide even the basic dental care. It's up to the private sector and NGO's to help some underprivileged people. Simple and basic dental care such as brushing is a big help to them.

[Eric]

Its a great initiative from your side, when i came to know of the situation in rural Guatemala that Dr. Lisa saw to herself, its a sad thing. a child got to bear all the pain till the teeth falls out. Makes it really appreciable as the team did great humanitarian service.