Helping Around the World

U-M Dentist Helps in Kenya and Uganda

Although it was his first trip to Africa to provide oral health care, Dr. Sam Zwetchkenbaum says his experiences helping children and young adults in villages in Kenya and Uganda were different in both countries.

Last November, he traveled with a group of 40 other health care providers from North America and Kenya on a mission to Kisumu, Kenya marking the 25th anniversary of Operation Smile, an international organization of dental and medical professionals who travel around the world to treat children with facial deformities, typically cleft lip and palate. Afterwards, he went to a rural village in Uganda that has poor access to dental care.

A clinical assistant professor in the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery and Hospital Dentistry and director of the General Practice Residency in the Hospital Dentistry program, Zwetchkenbaum said during his first two days in Kisumu, on the shores of Lake Victoria, he provided dental screenings for about 250 people ranging in age from six months to 30 years.

138 Patient Surgeries in 5 Days

"They came from near and far in hopes of having life-changing surgery because they heard doctors from the U.S. were available," he said.

"I imagined things would be rudimentary compared to the U.S., but was surprised by the lack of basic equipment and basic supplies, even in established clinics. I also saw significant pathology, with some cases much more involved than what I recalled seeing in our oral pathology textbooks."

During the five days in Kenya, Zwetchkenbaum was part of a team that spent full days performing surgeries on 138 patients at a local hospital. He performed extractions of decayed and nonrestorable teeth, particularly when they were in the area of the cleft or could be a potential source of infection.

He manufactured several obturators and other prostheses for those with cleft palate who were not selected for surgery. "I didn't have to make as many as I thought I might have to," he said. However, when Zwetchkenbaum returned to the U.S., he finished making a nasal prosthesis for a young girl that he sent to Dr. Ben Omondi, a prosthodontist he worked with who teaches at the dental school in Nairobi, to deliver to the patient.

Dental Clinic in Ugandan Community

Following his work in Kenya, Zwetchkenbaum traveled to a small village in eastern Uganda to visit a small Jewish community called the Abayudaya. There he performed extractions for two days for community members and their neighbors, and talked with community leaders about the possibility of including a dental clinic in a planned health center.

"I learned about this community while attending services at my local synagogue," he said. "I sent an e-mail to a leader there who informed me that there is only one dentist in a region of about 250,000 and he only performs extractions."

Zwetchkenbaum said he would like to see preventive and restorative care provided in this community and plans to work with others who are interested in developing a sustainable program. He hopes to return to Africa in a few years.