3rd Clinic Day

3rd and final day at the San Antonio Clinic.  To celebrate, we cranked up the A/C.  Again, not real busy.  Several factors, the clinic is closed on Sunday, so people aren’t used to coming to the clinic on Sunday.  Second, it is Palm Sunday. The majority of Christians are Catholic in Belize, so this would not be a day to go the the dentist.  Also, it is hot!  Unseasonable so.  People stay home in the shade.

We welcomed to our team, Zach, first year dental student.  Introduced to his patients as Dr. Zach; he liked that.  As a freshmen, it is all bookwork, no real patient contact, so he will definitely have a leg up on his colleagues after this trip.  He observed numerous extractions and restorations, and tried his hand at a few injections.  Go Zach!

Dr. Dan, our ENT doc saw more patients today then the previous two.  He wished he could take out some tonsils, but no, they need to go to the hospital for that.  Because we weren’t overwhelmed with patients, we had time to organize their dental cupboards a bit, unfortunately, I was unable to get their dental unit working completely.  I needed more time and tools, I didn’t have enough, and they had very few. 

A few pictures follow.  The one with the patient is our “team” that treated him,  he wanted a picture of us all,  Rochell got his address so she can mail it to him.   His team is as follows: Gloria cleaned his teeth, I did three fillings, Jim numbed him up for me, Rochell assisted me, and Nicole screened him.  Happy guy! Next picture is our full team in front of the clinic, and finally the notice that was posted throughout the village and on the front pillar of the clinic.

Now, the next 5 days will be in villages that, we were told, have no electricity.  This means we take a compressor, and two generators in order to run my portable dental unit for fillings.  We always triage patients first, extractions take precedence over fillings, so we will see.  Extractions require a  chair a table and some shade, fillings require………….  Finally, it is an hour and a half drive to the next village, and we have been assured no A/C.  Oh boy!