Pediatric Dentistry 5 Days In Moca

Jack Meibaum & Joan Parkington

This was a short trip to Moca, Dominican Republic. The purpose was to introduce Arnold "Arnie" Burdick, a pediatric dentist, to the mission work in Moca. Arnie had never been in the Dominican Republic before and had no idea what to expect. Arnie's constant request was for me to arrange for him work in a public school where he could screen and work with children under 14 years of age. I had to keep reminding Arnie that I had not, as of yet, been able to make any contacts in the public school systems and we would not be in the schools. My goal has been to start an education program in the public schools in order to begin preventive dentistry at a very young age but I had not made the right contacts.

We arrived on Saturday afternoon and settled down for the weekend. This was a time to prepare the equipment and acquaint Arnie with the people and food of the Dominican Republic. Sunday was an all day picnic with the Torrent de Vida church where Arnie met dozens of families, played games and ate traditional Dominican food.

CLINIC #1

Monday began with a clinic in the Torrent de Vida church which is the center of operations for Christian Medical Mission. The congregation had been informed that we would be seeing any children under 14 years old. We also saw any adult which was in pain. This day went well as Arnie became accustomed with our portable equipment. We worked the entire day, only stopping for lunch.

CLINICS #2 & 3

Tuesday and Wednesday we were pleasantly surprised to find out that we had been scheduled to work in a public school run by volunteers in Moca. This school caters to children which are very poverty stricken and the children are given a good meal each day at school. We screened almost 100 children in the morning and recorded statistics. In the late morning we began work on the more severe cases and continued working until the end of the day. These children had very bad teeth and we were only able to repair the most severely decayed teeth. WEDNESDAY we returned to continue working on the school children throughout the entire day. This school has about 150 children enrolled. We were not able to see all the children but we are trying to make arrangements to return to that school and do a continuing project there. This is, I hope, the beginning of my work in the public schools. Inquiries are being made into setting up a room in the complex to start the preventive care teaching and clinics. This is a great place to start a sealant program All that is needed is help with the funding and supplies. A high speed curing light is needed for this project due to the number of children and the time limitations.

CLINIC#4

THURSDAY was spent at a delightful location in Santiago. Again the call was for children under 14. We saw children from 3 to 16 years old. We worked outside under a large tree with a good breeze. The children had some teeth pulled, some filled with amalgam and reconstructive work was provided where appropriate. We also did quite a few sealants.

CLINIC #5

Friday in Guabano Bright and early Friday morning we were picked up by a wonderful lady pastor from Guabano and taken a long way back into farm country where I had worked in March. This is a very remote area where the children seldom ever see a dentist. The women of the community had created a list of childrens names for us and had the children arrive throughout the day. There was a never ending line of children needing dental care. We were not able to see all the children in need. There were just too many. We need more help. The highlight of this clinic was a teenage girl that had a broken front incisor which was black from arrested decay. She asked us to remove the tooth because, " it looked bad." We asked her if she would like us to fix the tooth? She asked "How can you do that?" We told her to watch and see. 30 minutes later she was given a mirror to see her new smile. We all cried as she broke out into the most beautiful smile. When we arrived back in Moca that night people were already talking about this young girl and her new tooth.