Thursday, January 23, 2014

Mission trip to Guatamala

Dr. Deb and her son, Tim (who will be joining his brother and starting Tufts Dental School in the Fall) went on a Christian dental mission trip to Guatemala for 10 days in January. Dr. Deb described the experience as rewarding and overwhelming. They were joined by two other dentists, a dental hygienist and a dental assistant.



Some villagers traveled 45 minutes to get to the’clinic'  


That is Dr. Deb in the blue scrubs leaning over a patient. Her job was triaging patients and administering local anesthetic so the other two dentists could extract/restore problem teeth. She even did some easy extractions and fillings.


Decay is prevalent especially because of their sugary diet (sugar cane and soda), little emphasis on dental hygiene and lack of dental care.