On Wednesday (1/9) I joined the group going to Madrugales, where I would spend the next 3 days in the dental clinic. When we arrived at the clinic (located at an established school house and local meeting facilities) there were TONS of people lined up, waiting for their daily appointments. Since Madrugales was a central location for people, there were no shortage of patients.
As in Los Terreros, Gene organized setting up the dental clinic. The dental clinic was located outside, nestled in between two other buildings. We had to place sheets up on both sides as well as over our heads to block the sun -- it was HOTTER in Madrugales.
We always had a lunch break, where we would have packed lunches that our host families made for us each day. Angle, a volunteer translator from the group, often organized a game of futbol for the kids during the lunch hour.
In Madrugales I was fortunate to have two other volunteers in the dental clinic: one was Dave, a 19-year old who never worked in a dental clinic. After I thoroughly prepared the tooth, I passed the forceps over to Dave to give the final pull. Can you say 'future dentist'? Below is a short video of my work:
For the 3 days that the dental clinic saw patients in Madrugales, we treated 87 patients and extracted 130 teeth.
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