Day 4 2nd clinic day

REAL TIME NOTE:  Those who have followed other blogs in the past note the brevity and just a few pictures in this blog.  Two reasons.  by the end of day, we're exhausted.  We try to make it to the river to bathe, then back for a meeting with the kids, another with the adults, then it is time to sit down, ponder the day and look at photos. 

Secondly, the WiFi is very slow.  It is tough to upload what I have here.  

So, I hope you still enjoy the update.

Today, we exercised with the kids at the elementary school.  Great fun.

OCS students also got into the classrooms to work with the kids on crafts and projects, including setting off model rockets.

Another busy day.  Fewer patients but more teeth.  We saw around 30 people, but pulled 86 teeth.  We worked till dark, around 6pm, and unfortunately we had to turn away 25+ people.  We are moving to our new location tomorrow and just ran out of time, and light.

An unsettling lifestyle emerged.  First decay is rampant in the local people.  The most sad was the kids who were 7 and 8 years old who's 6 year molars were already decayed and broken at the gum line.  Also, the 12 and 13 year old kids who had already lost there 6 year molars (only roots remained and were now losing their 12 year molars to decay and infection.

Lacey, Greg's wife, setting up our instruments while one the the students is doing
sterilization behind.

But worse still was a very pretty 20 year old girl, (she looked 15), who's 4 upper front teeth I had to extracted because of severe decay.  Three of the four had broken off at the gum line probably years ago, the last remaining tooth was severely decayed but not sheared off.  Another example:  I extracted 8 teeth on a middle aged lady, (probably that many were already gone), she then brought her daughter to see me and I pulled 7 of her teeth.  

Here is the kicker: after we pulled the girl's teeth we watched her go the the roadside stand to buy candy and soda THREE TIMES in the afternoon.  The problem?  SUGAR.  Many of the kids in line to be seen had suckers in their mouths. Discouraging.

Now this is one brave gal.  She could still muster a smile after I just finished pulling all
of her upper teeth, eleven in all.  All badly decayed, many decayed below the gun line.
She spent over an hour laying on the table to her left while I worked away.
My awkward position driven by my sore back from bending over her!

Now, many of you are reading this blog who want to know what the rest of our team is doing.  I apologize for not keeping you up to date.

Our kids have stayed extremely busy hanging out with the local kids.  Sports, crafts, visiting the local schools and just having fun.  The building where we are staying is loaded with kids all day and half the night.  Everyone is having a great time.

For all of you OCS followers, lots of pictures of the students will follow on your website.

Tomorrow we do move on,  So much more dentistry we could do.  We would love to educate the kids and parents concerning their diet, but that will have to wait for another day, I guess.