Dental Team Visit

I spent a day with the Mercy Ships Dental Clinic at Redemption hospital here in Monrovia. It was an eye opening experience.

As we rolled up to the hospital entrance this morning, the car brakes screeching us to a stop, a crowd of people stood up from where they were sitting in the shade. They first walked across the pavement to the entrance, then trotted, then a few ran to form today’s line (or cue as everyone else here seems to call it.) It was like back in the days when the elementary school bus turned the corner onto my street signalling for us to pick up our backpacks and make a compressed line, edging our way to the front. Cutting still happens here too…

When I first arrived inside, I was cognisant of the lack of space. The dental chairs are so close that the staff zigzags around equipment and each other brushing past the patients’ feet. Meanwhile the fans are blowing away trying to frantically cool the place down. The fans need some help! Despite the closeness of everything, the team sure moved efficiently! They were like a colony of ants moving frantically, yet in order. The goal is to help as many people as possible with the best care we can provide, because for every person helped, there will always be another few waiting in line.

Let’s walk through the operation here. To begin with, the patients wait outside the hospital. They are then screened to see if any particularly urgent cases are present so they may be brought to the front. They are then admitted, their information is taken, and they wait in our waiting room. In the waiting room there is entertainment in the form of the Jesus video being played, and teaching about how to properly care for one’s teeth. Both are exciting! When one of the five chairs in the other room becomes open, it is quickly sprayed down and sterile instruments are brought over while the next patient is called.

Upon sitting down, the patient is asked what the problem is. After this a pair of sunglasses is administered to block out the bright light… and anything else that may make its way in the direction of the eyes. And then, the dentists do what they are best at- they work in a tiny dark place with precise instruments to fix the problem so that it may heal. In this, teeth are frequently extracted because there is not much left of them to repair. Most of the problems we encountered would have been much easier to treat in their first stages. Unfortunately, they had grown large enough for them to finally come. There were some instances where root canals could have been performed, but when the option is to help three or four patients in urgent need by removing the problem, or to perform one single root canal and crown, the choice is obvious. (However I have been told that if it is a front tooth that is in need of a root canal, there is a group here that we can send the patient too and sponsor their visit.)

After the dental work, the patient is then forwarded to another station where they are given any necessary pain killers or antibiotics (penicillin). They are then instructed in what to expect to take place with their mouth for the next few days or weeks and are then free to leave the clinic.
The work done while the patient is in the chair is intricate and intense. I watched the volunteer doctors pull out remaining roots from teeth that have decayed away long ago. I have heard the crunching of an impacted wisdom tooth on its way out. The jaw bone was exposed, bone had to be drilled away at the edges to free the roots up, and in the end, the wound was stitched close. (This is really quite expensive in the US!) I watched this one intently a few feet away as the British dentist explained to us what he was doing. I watched things that made me queasy and light headed to the point of watching the white spots dance until I had to look away. I also watched the wiggling, flexed toes of the patients and felt it for them. However, when individual examinations were over, I also watched many sighs of relief when they were finished, and the ensuing smiles.

By the end of the day, sixty two people were helped for free and the man with an eye problem was instructed to come back a few days later when the vision team will be at the hospital (after his tooth was removed.) Another child who showed up with a clubbed foot was also forwarded to the orthopaedic team to be examined. Another man with a tumor in his mouth had a biopsy taken and will return in a few days to see if he will need to be scheduled for free surgery on our ship. If so, we will schedule him in.

All in all, it was amazing to watch this team work. Yes, I sterilised the instruments in the afternoon, but they served me much more than I ever served them. Because of their various forms of training, these friends and shipmates really helped a lot of people through the medical work, but also in the way that they treated the patients with respect and care. I am blessed to live in a community like this.

Long before these dental tools and techniques were invented, one St. Francis of Assisi was quoted saying “Preach the Gospel (the good news) at all times, and if necessary, use words.” It is a true pleasure to live with such eloquent, yet verbally gentle preachers.