Helping Around the World

Dentistry in Honduras...

Two Dental Students Volunteer to Help in Central American Country

Fourth-year dental student David Lipton will always remember the mariachi bands that greeted him and other health care providers last summer as they arrived at several remote villages in Honduras.

"It was practically a holiday when we came to town," he said. "Since people in remote parts of the country don't have access to care, a visit by dentists, physicians, nurses, and other health care professionals was a rare experience and a reason to celebrate."

Lipton and third-year dental student Katrina Baeverstad were the only School of Dentistry students who provided oral health care as a part of the University of Michigan's Honduras Medical Relief program.

Working in collaboration with a Honduran charity organization, U-M HMR is a group of about 40 physicians, dentists, nurses, pharmacists and undergraduates who volunteer to provide services in villages where care is unavailable or people lack funds to take a bus to a clinic in a city. Last year was the third year the U-M group took the trip.

Both Lipton and Baeverstad participated in one-week programs in the country of 7-1/2 million. Honduran residents are among the poorest in the Western Hemisphere with an annual per capita income of approximately $2,800.

"It seemed that everywhere we went, people were lined up waiting for dental care," Baeverstad said. "Sometimes there were one hundred or two hundred people, ranging in age from three or four to seventy or eighty, waiting as the bus with all the health care professionals arrived."

Challenging Conditions

Lipton agreed, adding that since the villages were in the jungle, "it often took between one to three hours to get to some of the sites. So, after a long day of providing care, part of our evening was spent preparing for the next day." Each workday began around six o'clock in the morning and didn't end until eleven o'clock at night.

Dental care was limited to extractions. No restorative work was performed.

Care was provided at public sites, such as schools or village halls. However, in one instance, Baeverstad said, the mayor of one village allowed his home to serve as a temporary clinic.

"When we arrived, it was apparent many were in pain," Baeverstad said. "I usually had to ask them to point to the area of their mouth that was hurting. When I looked, I could tell which tooth was probably causing the pain."

In addition to the heat and humidity, conditions were challenging for other reasons, Lipton said. "We had no electricity, so we had to use flashlights and sometimes sunshine, to see inside a person's mouth."

Baeverstad said about 3,000 people were seen in the four villages during her one-week trip. That number included between 30 and 40 patients who received oral health care daily. One day, a record number of patients, 60, received dental care.

Lipton said about 3,300 patients were treated in the villages during his trip. Of those, about 265 patients received oral health care that included more than 340 tooth extractions.

"It was a tiring trip, but worthwhile," Lipton said. "I enhanced my dental skills, especially in oral surgery." When he graduates this spring, Lipton plans to participate in either an AEGD or GPR program.

Baeverstad said her technical and organizational skills improved. "I was able to make the most of challenging situations as they arose because there were a lot of those," she said with a smile. "All of us made a difference in the lives of these people, and they were so grateful. That was the most rewarding part of the trip," she said.