Dental Clinic by the numbers

We had 1 endodontist and 1 dentist.

We treated 84 patients representing 11 communities (For most of the people, this was the 1st time they had come to a clinic that we have hosted.  Actually, for most people, this was the 1st time they’ve been to a dentist EVER!)

We treated 3 indigenous groups (mostly Nahuatl but some neighboring groups als0).

1 couple (below) walked for 1 full day up and down through the mountains to see the dentist. They arrived at the end of our second to last day.  It was already to late to see them, and we had already told about 10 people to come the following day because more showed up than we could see that day.  We told them if they were the first, they’d see the doctor first, so they should get to the clinic when the sun was coming up.  When we arrived early for the last day, they were there waiting!  Between them they had 4 extractions, 5 fillings, and 1 root canal.  That walk was worth it!  They should be pain free for a while, now.  They are wearing the traditional clothes of their group.  They are from a people group that has been very resistant to the Gospel, and we hope that in some way their contact with us will create an opening in the future for someone to share God’s Good News in their language.

We did 423 procedures.  This included 149 fillings, 19 root canals, 65 extractions, and 4 surgeries. The doctors removed 1 tumor from a lady’s mouth.

We saw patients for 5.5 days, and then spent the other .5 day cleaning up and packing everything away.