Today was my second trip to Tijuana Mexico. I and my sons along with others left our little city pretty early in the morning and rode in vans and then crossed the border to Mexico some time around 11:00. When we got to this town near Tijuana, our vans drove down a steep hill and then up the ravine and arrived at this small church. Then we got to work and set up a portable dental unit. This dental unit was specially designed by a retired dentist who no longer practices dentistry except when he goes overseas on volunteer trips (more details on this dental unit will follow later).
The people that I treated were mostly women and young children. The types of dental treatment that we can do at a setting like this are fillings and extractions. Today’s work was mostly extractions. Children who needed their baby teeth removed to make room for the permanent teeth were well behaved. I suppose those that were defiant or too scared probably did not even bother to line up for the free dental treatment. Often these children only have just tips of roots remaining. No regular visits to the dentist. These root tips usually come out pretty easily. Women that require extractions will go to a free mobile dental clinic after suffering many nights of toothache. These extractions are often difficult because, the teeth are so broken down that some molars (back teeth) come out bits by bits, each root coming out one by one. After just a couple of hours of working, my face gets covered with sweat and my back hurts.
However, It feels most rewarding after a day like today. I am glad that I am a dentist and I can do something for these people. Each day as I go about doing the things that I need to do, I rarely think about anything else than my work, my children and making ends meet with what a full time dental school faculty member makes. Then, after a day like today, I realized that the world is more than what’s around me. The world is much bigger and different than what I am used to.
