Two dentists who practice at the Lorette Family Dental clinic have returned from a seven day dental missions trip in Jamaica. Their team, including two dental assistants and one dental hygienist, spent their time in the rural mountain community of Jericho and the village of Sandy Bay.

Dr. Nathan Jeal with his assistant giving a patient anaesthetic before the procedure. (Photo courtesy of Dr. Bao-Tran Nguyen)Dr. Bao-Tran Nguyen and Dr. Nathan Jeal say this was the first time their team has gone on a dental mission trip outside North America, noting they have done other mission work in Winnipeg. Dr. Jeal explains they wanted to find a place where there was a need for dental care and through a group of Jamaican nurses in California they were able to connect with the Minister of Health in Jamaica and plan the missions trip.

During their week in Jamaica Dr. Nguyen says they saw over 200 patients and mostly performed extractions in less than ideal working conditions. 

"We had the bare bones of a dental operatory set-up," explains Dr. Nguyen. "That means you're using whatever light you have, you use chairs that don't really recline and you don't have handpieces that you have the luxury of using here. It was just your instruments, your assistant and a bag to have patients spit out their blood [from the extractions]."

Dr. Bao-Tran Nguyen with her assistants after extracting teeth from a Jamaican child. (Photo courtesy of Dr. Bao-Tran Nguyen)"The first day we actually practiced out of a rural mountain church," adds Dr. Jeal. "So there was no lighting, no ventilation, no air conditioning, no handpieces, no suction. So our patients were seated in lawn chairs and they had to spit into garbage bags; pretty rudimentary. Then we had three days in a government clinic and the government clinics were also poorly equipt and their suction, instead of suctioning it actually spat. It was not working properly and the handpieces they had didn't have sufficient torque. So everything was kind of by hand."

Dr. Jeal says they saw between 40 and 50 people per day and the patients would start lining up at 6:30 in the morning each day to make sure they would be seen. Dr. Nguyen notes the experience gave her a whole new perspective and realization to how much more there is in Canada adding a dental mission trip like this was something she had wanted to do every since dental school.

One of the assistants with Jamaican children and their new toothbrushes. (Photo courtesy of Dr. Bao-Tran Nguyen)In theory Dr. Jeal adds everyone in Canada has physical access to a dentist with one dentist to every 1800 people. Whereas in Jamaica there is only one dentist to every 20,000 people. He says he came back realizing there's a lot we take for granted in Canada.

"Here we give out toothbrushes at almost every appointment," notes Dr. Jeal. "We give it for free, it costs us a dollar. But we give it out and it's something we take for granted; having access to a toothbrush. One of the people, he's Jamaican and he was one of the drivers for our team, just to make sure we got around safely. He tracked us down several times to make sure he could get toothbrushes for his wife and kids because, for him, his perception of it was that it had great value. So the things we take for granted here that we think are no big deal, down there it's something that carries a lot more value and was really important to him."

Both Dr. Nguyen and Dr. Jeal say they would like to return next year with their team.