Dental Clinic

Thanks to three dentists from Uganda, we were able to provide dental care for 174 patients during our four days at Kambi Teso. Apollo, Damari, and Doreen have become wonderful Open Arms friends. They traveled by bus all night to join us in Eldoret, Kenya.

I broadened my scope of practice this summer. Whenever a dental assistant needed a break, I donned the protective gear and became a “human head-rest” for patients who bravely had their teeth extracted. It put me in the perfect position to comfort the patients and pray for them (and their dentists) during the procedures.

There was a bit more excitement in the dental tent this year…
Sean is a pre-med student at Arizona University. When Phil found out that Doreen had a private dental practice in Uganda and aspires to become an oral surgeon, he decided that Sean and Doreen should get married. The two played along with the gag. Sean tied a string around Doreen’s finger and Phil even brought one of the local pastors into the dental tent to perform a faux wedding. The “newly weds” probably thought that was the end of it, but there were too many pranksters on our team for that to happen ;)

A wedding cake appeared at our final banquet the next night. Everyone who had helped at the medical clinics attended the banquet. Few of them were aware of the joke, so a lot of jaws were dropping when Sean and Doreen cut the cake (and fed it to each other). A trio sang a lovely song for the couple while they had their “first dance.”

If you have seen the movie or TV series MASH, you understand the necessity for such comedic relief. Our medical clinics are a lot like a MASH unit. The three dentists pulled hundreds of teeth; the medical and lay personnel treated 1700+ patients. Everyone was exhausted from four consecutive days of providing medical care for the poorest of the poor. The faux wedding provided the best medicine – LAUGHTER!!!