December 2007 | Web Exclusive

Mission minded

Dental homes on foreign shores.    by Cindy Carson, RDH

In my 28 years as a dental hygienist, I have never stopped remembering my dad—now a retired dentist—and his commitment to giving back to our community by volunteering at the local orphanage. It is his example that propels me to find ways to give back to my own profession.

I practically grew up in a jumper chair at my dad’s family practice. Two of my uncles also were dentists and one aunt who was a hygienist. My sister was actually the first to pursue dental hygiene, and it while visiting her at the University of Vermont, I knew this was what I wanted to do with my life as well. My freshman year in high school I started assisting my Dad in his office, and in 1977 I was off to school myself. I returned home after graduation and worked for my dad until he retired. I worked for the dentist that bought his practice, and it seems throughout the past 28 years I have always had a part-time and a full-time job.

I share all this to illustrate one point: My career has been my life. I worked with one periodontist for 15 years and remember commenting to him that, “I really need to get a life!” His response was, “Gums are your life.” Over the years he hd allowed me to take some of his borderline periodontal patients and work with them. Many—after being quoted many thousands of dollars for surgery—were able to avoid extensive work under my care. For a long time, results like that were very rewarding, but I never stopped feeling I needed to give back to those less fortunate.

An open door

After moving from Massachusetts to Maryland in 2004, I finally found my opportunity. I began working for Dr. Martin Barley who, along with his wife, Betsy, had been leading mission teams to Honduras and Guatemala for 35 years. That was my chance! It was a long year full of questions and preparation before I was able to become part of the next team traveling to Central America. That year, the Barleys also introduced me to the “Adopt a Child” program that the program directly supports. Before I even left I had agreed to sponsor my first child: Celestina, the last of 10 children in her family to be adopted.

We landed in Guatemala and traveled into the mountains for the week to work with the Mayan people just outside the small town of Quiche. The Mayans are very poor, living in grass huts and bamboo lean-tos. They are a very private people who have very strong beliefs and are deeply rooted in their own culture, but also are very appreciative of the mission group. Our yearly visit is the only time they receive medical and dental treatment. They are supported spiritually by Living Water International (http://water.cc), which also provides nine feeding programs throughout the area. Twice a week, they feed up to 5,000 children lunch—many participants walk up to four hours to receive their meal.

It didn’t take long to realize that dental decay was rampant among the Mayan people. We lost track of exactly how many teeth we extracted that week, but I do remember one day—in our portable clinic, with no running water or electricity—we treated more than 100 people. In the six days we were there, the medical and dental teams saw over 2,000 people.

the idea

Many of us had “adopted” children in the area and visits were arranged for us to meet with them during the week. I brought Celestina a backpack full of paper and pencils and things for her hair. She was so shy, and I was so thrilled. It was during this visit that I was able to eat with her and the other children during the feeding program. If I hadn’t seen the organization of it all with my own eyes, I might never have been inspired with “the idea.” I realized that if we could give these 5,000 children a fluoride supplement with their lunch twice a week, it could make a huge difference in their decay rate! I passed this idea along to Dr. Barley. He just looked at me for a moment and then said, “This is your baby.” That was all I needed to hear. I was  off to the makeshift pharmacy we set up, where nurses provided me with some empty bottles. I used these to take water samples from each of the villages we visited. When we returned to the U.S., Dr. Barley sent the samples out to be tested for fluoride content. The answer was no surprise; there was no naturally occurring fluoride in their water.

After that, it was a long, arduous year of letters and phone calls, getting permission from Living Water International to distribute fluoride tablets through the feeding programs (under the supervision of Dr. Pablo McKeown). Then there was the task of finding product and figuring out how to get it there. It was a great learning experience and I talked to a lot of wonderful people. God moves in mysterious ways—every time I was speaking to someone that couldn’t help, they inevitably never hung up until they gave me the name and number of someone they thought could. This past March, I was able to bring more than 400,000 fluoride tablets on our trip. Funding for this was provided primarily through friends and family, as all attempts of support through corporate and major foundations failed.

Seeing the difference

After we left, Dr. McKeown went to the heads of each village and explained about the tiny chewable tablet their children would be receiving at the feeding program. I was sent my first update in June as to the progress of the program. The fluoride is being distributed in all nine programs, and although I was concerned that the children might be afraid of this foreign object, the missionaries are amazed at how quickly they’ve accepted it. The last report stated that even if a child couldn’t make the feeding program—most likely they were working in the fields that day—they would have a family member go to the program and get the fluoride tablet for the child and bring it back to them. The organization now has more than 7,000 kids registered in the feeding program. My dream is to continue to go back each march and bring all these children the fluoride they need for the coming year, then, years from now, see how it’s benefitted their smiles.

Cindy Carson, RDH, is a 1979 graduate of the University of Vermont. She currently works full time in general practice for Dr. Yuey Moy, and part time for Dr. Martin Barley, both in Maryland. Cindy is a member of the American Dental Hygienists’ Association. If you care to donate to the mission work she is a part of, all donations should be made payable to: Church of the Ascension, c/o Dr. Martin Barley, P.O. Box 2155, Leonardtown, MD, 20650. All donations are tax deductible.