Dental Care

We have been working with the Cielo school (100+ children) to give the children information on how to brush and care for their teeth. After an orientation on dental hygiene, children are then given a teeth cleaning and emergency assistance such as fillings for cavities and pulling teeth where necessary. Parents are sent a paper to let them know what other dental work their child needs as well.

Its awesome to see that the kids are receiving education on how to care for their teeth. Since we will be working with the school children annually the reinforced education will help to change oral hygiene habits. Hopefully, as adults they will not have as many dental problems and will raise their children with good oral hygiene.

We realize that some of the children are too young (three to seven years old) to really understand the importance of what we are telling them. So, we had a meeting last Tuesday night with the parents of the Cielo school kids. Dr. Jose Manuel Gomez presented a powerpoint prepared by his assistant Heidi about oral hygiene. The presentation lasted about a half an hour and covered the anatomy of the tooth, how to prevent cavities, good nutrition and dental appointments. Time was then given for parents to ask questions. There were about 50 parents present at the meeting. All and all a very successful night!

Last week, we were blessed to have Dr. Mark Kingry spending time doing dental cleanings for our employees. He was able to clean teeth and put in fillings for the most part, but had to pull some teeth as well. We are hoping that in the future employees as well as the community will have improved dental hygiene and won't need to have their teeth pulled! We are so thankful to Mark and all of his hard work! He also spent time talking to our new dental assistant Heidi about techniques and equipment use. It was an invaluable experience for her and our dental clinic.

Some exciting things have been happening in the clinic with dental care. I believe that we really take dentist appointments for granted in the United States and rarely think about the adverse affect a cavity or infection in the mouth can have on a person without access to dental care. An infection in the mouth is just as dangerous and potentially deadly as one anywhere else in the body. I am so thankful to Dr. Jose Manuel and Heidi for their hard work and to all those who have been supporting them and our clinic! We really are making a difference.