Abra la Boca! (Open Wide), by Donna Swineheart, Dental Assistant

After one year of soliciting funds from generous evangelical Christians and asking for donations from dental reps, the day finally arrives when we find ourselves down in Taulabe, Honduras ready to begin our first dental clinic; Bill DeWitt, DDS, Nancy Nagtzaam, RDH, Debra Wilcox, Honduran dentist Dr. Zoraida Ramos Campos and myself. Looking back, it seemed as if we had shipped a whole warehouse of supplies to the Cassie House, but when we unloaded the back of the big truck, the four large crates shipped ahead of our arrival quickly filled one small storage room. We had spent the day before setting up the dental chairs, instruments, sterilization room and waiting chairs. Today, we finally began to see the people we had come to minister to.

Along with our dental clinic, George Hoekstra, MD is running a medical clinic with the help of Maria Moore, MD and Lori DeWitt, RN, BSN, for the people who need medical advice and medication. They set up in a separate room, but we shared the waiting area.

I approached the clinic about 10 minutes before we were to open and was surprised to find we already had a line waiting for us. It never got smaller. When one group was done, another quickly filled the waiting chairs; they waited in the rain outside, and still more came. We saw 50 patients that day; cleanings, fillings and extractions. Our flow was kind of choppy, no lunch break, just eat when you can, grab some water or a pop and keep on going. The medical clinic is the same; the people never end. The next day we packed two small pick ups with all our equipment and were on the road by 7:30am; our destination, a school in Jaitique. People were once again waiting for us to arrive. Some had walked from yesterday's clinic where we didn't have time to see them. Both the medical and dental clinics had long lines. We came up with a numbering system, first come, first served. This worked... kind of, but those needing help the most weren't the ones being seen. So new idea-Triage! Check the mouths then issue the numbers. Lastly, how do we numb people without taking up precious chair time? Dr. Bill figures this out, numbing chairs and waiting chairs. He numbs 4-6 people at a time then goes to work. We see 67 people this day, mostly extractions and cleanings. Our flow is getting less choppy. Dr. George is happy to have a translator today; it made seeing patients easier. He sees many infections, dog bites and other ailments.

The people of Honduras seemed to be so tough yet they are suffering such a great pain with infected, abscessed, teeth that many are having 4-5 teeth pulled at the same time. One woman asked to have her remaining 9 teeth removed so it would be easier for her to gum food. Beautiful young girls have holes in their front teeth from sucking on sugar cane. Decay runs rampant. Extractions outnumber fillings. Toothpaste & a brush are a luxury that few can afford. When they leave our clinic they go with a new brush, paste, brushing instructions in Spanish and most importantly, a Spanish New Testament. By day four we are experts at setting up the equipment. Everyone had their specific area, supplies were packed accordingly, and we were all working together and having a great time. We were up and running and waiting for patients by 8:00am. This last day we were in an open air restaurant, a beautiful view, and lines of people waiting to see us. We saw 75 people today and as always there are still more who need us. The line to see Dr. George is still as long as ours, today there is no interpreter. He works so hard and does what he can. It's difficult to leave seeing them still standing there. This was our last day and we had to pack up the equipment to take home, we've hit our stride and things were going great. Give us another 10 days. Please! There is such a great need, and so little time! We will be going back. You can count on it!