VISITING DENTAL TEAM

Mar 05, 2017 News

By Dr. NerominiFagu
For over a decade, a team of dental health workers has been making an annual pilgrimage to Guyana to provide much needed dental care to various communities. The team hails from Michigan, USA, and consists of dental surgeons, specialists, hygienists, assistants, and other volunteers.

Team Leader working on a patient

This remarkable team is headed by the equally remarkable, Dr. Scott Hodges. Dr. Hodges, an endodontist by profession, is the backbone of the operation. I first met him when I was a dental student and over the years I have had the privilege of working alongside him and his team.
The team is once again here in Guyana ready to work the many long hours to provide service and care to the Guyanese community. The months of preparations and coordination that it takes to organize this endeavour is testament to the dedication and love of all those involved. It is no small feat; in the past there have been over 25 chairs in operation during the clinic days. The logistics of such an operation is also only made possible by the unwavering sacrifice of locally- based Guyanese Pastor Andy and Kathleen Girwarnauth and the members of the Association of Bible Churches.
These special people have opened their hearts and homes over the years to the team and have coordinated all the onsite logistics.
It is remarkable to see how Pastor Andy and Kathleen and their team transform a place of worship into a space for service. The setup surely rivals many of the apparent clinics that are currently in operation throughout the country. It caters for chairs for cleaning and polishing, simple and complicated extractions including third molars, fillings, and root canal treatment. Even though this is a mobile setup there are no short cuts; equipment is also set up for suction, sterilization and digital x-rays.
Prior to their upcoming visit, I asked Dr. Hodges to reflect on past trips to Guyana and he shared some statistics from previous years – it is amazing how much has been accomplished over the years.
Over 300 team members have graced these shores and some have never missed a year. They have treated over 7,500 patients for a variety of dental issues. From his modest accounts, Dr. Hodges has estimated over 5000 cleanings and polishings, 5000 fillings on close to 10,000 surfaces (remember I spoke about filling surfaces in last week’s column), 1000 pits and fissures sealants, 2000 extractions, and 500 root canal treatments.
The cost for these services would have amounted to millions of US dollars, And, more importantly, the benefits to the patients of the various communities have been beyond value as many of them would not have been able to afford treatment, especially so for procedures such as root canal treatment.
Dr. Hodges and his team also do educational talks on taking care and keeping our teeth, which is fortunate because in Guyana, unfortunately, there is a culture of extraction. Although the Ministry of Health has been making some strides with its oral health initiatives to try to reorient persons towards taking preventative measures for tooth loss, it will take time for the persons to move away from this mindset.
It is always heartwarming for me as a dentist when I see parents bringing their young children for check-ups and teeth monitoring. Soon to be gone are the days when you should have to grow old wearing dentures.
Dental health is an important component of our overall health and preventative measures are a cornerstone to keeping our teeth for a lifetime. I am looking forward to once again being a part of the dental outreach mission of Dr. Hodges and his team. Welcome back to Guyana Dr. Hodges and team!

For more information contact OMNI DENTAL at 295 Quamina Street, Georgetown Tel: 227-0025, Parika Tel: 260-3133 or send emails to [email protected].