PVC 1991 Delegation – Part Eight: Dental Clinic

The following notes have been edited to correct errors and to add explanations and updates. Parenthetical notes and remarks from the original are enclosed in parentheses. Present day [2022] updates are italicized and enclosed in square brackets.

Monday, 14 October 1991 - 1:00 PM - The Dental Clinic

We are back in familiar territory for several of us, having visited this clinic last year, and we are eager to learn what advances they have made since we were here before. There is also the pleasure of having Sally, who works as a dental technician, with us this time, since she had not been able to make the visit last year. We are seated on wooden benches in an open garage area, talking with O., who had been one of our guides the previous time and who recognizes us as repeat visitors.

"Welcome to our country. Thank you for coming to see the reality that we have. Our project specifically is the formation of dental promoters. Here we train people in how to extract teeth, cleaning, denture making and fitting; and we build the equipment needed to do these things.

"Owing to the situation in our country, 90% of our projects are installed in the countryside where there is no electricity, so we need to buy generators. This means that our dental promoters must also be trained in generator maintenance. Our project is now about five years old. It came out of the need of the people, as there was no government program around. Before we started, campesinos had to walk nearly all day to get to a clinic for one extraction. This meant a whole day lost, with the danger of leaving a conflicted area, spending money for transportation and food, and of course losing the day's wages.

PVC 1990 Delegation – Part Ten: The Dental Clinic

The following notes have been edited to correct errors and to add explanations and updates. Parenthetical notes and remarks from the original are enclosed in parentheses. Present day [2022] updates are italicized and enclosed in square brackets.

5 October 1990, 8:30 AM - The Dental Clinic

We are seated in a circle on folding chairs in a corner of a large garage or warehouse, talking with two of the leaders who direct the dental clinic. They begin with a history of the project.

- "Brazilian doctor Nathan Kamilot came here to develop a health project. As he worked among the people, he determined that there was a major problem with dental care, and that many health problems could be traced to dental problems. For instance, a lack of teeth can cause secondary malnutrition. Dental promotion was a new concept here. Dr. Kamilot studied to learn dental work himself, then started teaching others. The project took off. A proposal for funding was made to SHARE and to the Public Welfare Foundation, a U.S. organization which awards grants for health work. The funding is ongoing, because the project by its nature cannot be self-supporting. The PWF grant was about $50,000.00 and is still being given out.

"We train community members to do cleaning, extractions, and fillings, and to make and fit false teeth. This is a constant educational program, and it is spreading like wildfire all over the country. The main problem is getting supplies through to where they are needed. Our community clinics need generators and compressors, but anything bigger than a toothbrush is considered subversive. The doctor who started this work has since been captured and deported.