Monday June 13, 2011

This morning we began with a fully booked schedule! Four students went to a local community center and screened children for dental problems, taught them how to brush and floss, handed out toothbrushes and toothpaste as well as did fluoride treatments.

The rest of us worked on restorative and extractions back in the clinic.

Alex and I did a large Class II amalgam on this young girls´ lower right molar. It was quite extensive and we had to be careful not to have a pulp exposure. Since our suction units are extremely limited, we had to resort to having her spit into a cup underneath the rubber dam. It was hard to get the tooth isolated for the filling, but eventually it all worked out!

Lauren extracted some premolars on this young man. They were difficult because the roots were curved. But, luckily she was able to get them out without breaking a root tip!

 This adorable little boy got spooked when the compressor and the units blew out. He was so scared that we weren´t able to do his restorations. He and his brother will be coming back later in the week now that we got everything fixed!

 Nader, Shiva and Michelle worked on edentulating this patient. He only had a few teeth remaining and it is easier for the patients to get complete dentures made than partial dentures. Here in Honduras, many people go to the ¨Dental Mechanic.¨ These people are appretencehip trained on extractions and fabricating complete and partial dentures. They have no formal dental training and often leave root tips in the bone. These often become infected and cause the patient a lot of problems. However, the Mechanics are much cheaper than a real dentist, which is why the people here prefer going to them over a real dentist.

 Since the compressor and the portable dental units broke down in the afternoon, the number of patients that we were able to see was very limited. Many of us worked hard to fix the units while the three remaining chairs had patients. We eventually got all of the units fixed with the help of a local electrician! Since the clinic was going slowly anyways, we decided to end a little bit early and go and play soccer with the locals at 5pm.

USA vs HONDURAS....RESULT......

USA 18 HON 15!!!

We actually won! They challenged us to another match tonight and I think they will be bringing their A team this time!

We had THE BEST cheering section ever!

 Dr. Scott Ngai and Christina Lin finally arrived and we were able to thank our doctors for being here with us!!!

Can´t wait for another great day in Guaimaca!!!