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Introduction
Yes, that’s actually me doing dentistry for the first time in 12 years! (It’s really like riding a bike!) I recently had the honor and privilege to go on a medical/dental mission trip to Kenya. We traveled with 5 doctors, 3 dentists including Mona Chang, my wife, and Greg Vixie of Grass Valley. We also had 20 high school/college kids who pitched in on the medical/dental services and helped build a structure that will eventually include a dental and medical surgical suite when electricity reaches the area later this year. We traveled to different villages everyday for 4 days to do extractions in very primitive surroundings. When word got out that we actually numbed the patient before doing the extractions, we were inundated: I think I extracted 75 -100 teeth on my last day alone! Most of these were very tough extractions as the local bone density and root length seemed to be greater than I remembered!!! Usually the teeth came out in pieces as they only seek care when they have an obviously bombed out tooth. We had a generator and delivery unit at one location which was used primarily for sectioning and troughing out the mandible to get out roots/tips. Fortunately, fluorosis is common in the area and sweets are scarce (except those given by tourists), so the patients have a fairly low decay rate; we normally extracted only 2-3 teeth per patient. Thank you to Patterson Dental for supplying $5000 of dental supplies. The septocaine worked well. Besides the safaris we enjoyed, immersing ourselves in the Maasai culture as hands-on caregivers was extremely gratifying. The smiles that followed were heartwarming. Reviewing oral hygiene instructions (translated into Swahili by my daughter’s UCLA professor) with patients and playing a scrimmage soccer game at a local school rounded out our experience. There’s nothing more rewarding than giving back and helping others. When you get a chance, just DO IT! You’ll never regret it! PS. The walls of the mud huts are really made from cow dung!!
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