Dentistas Sin Limites

We rolled into an organic farm planning to do a little volunteer work, and somehow our visit coincided with a group of spanish dentists...and thus we spent our week as dental assistants in rural Laos. It was an incredibly rewarding experience setting up a new 'clinic' each day in a different village. We would use a school classroom that in a matter of 15-30 minutes would be transformed into a functional clinic. The majority of the work was extracting teeth, a table was set up full of tools to choose from to complete the job. An air compressor provided the drill and the air....plungers provided water flush...and a series of plastic bowls was used to sanitize the tools after use. The space was never the most ideal, but it all worked beautifully as seven dentists rolled up their sleeves and got to work. I have never come across braver children in my life. They would nervously enter the room taking in all the activity taking place around them. Sitting on chairs in which their feet didn't even reach the floor, they opened their mouths wide not knowing what was to happen next. Big needles with anesthesia and big pliers for the extractions, a noisy drill that they had never seen before in their lives. Their hands clenched into fists, their eyes bulged, sweat dripped from their brow...and occasionally silent tears ran down their cheeks. The boys sometimes flashed their extracted teeth at their friends. Everyone left with a big ball of gauze in their cheek and a saggy face from the anesthesia. At the end of the day, the teachers would force lao lao on us (local rice whisky) as a thank you. On one occasion, three teachers prepared a lunch for us. The classroom next to the 'clinic' was cleared out and a huge table was made out of desks. They anxiously scanned everyone's faces as we ate, and one teacher addressed us sharing her gratitude for the dentists' visit. She bashfully spoke about how they had little more to give than this meal of rice and chicken. It was their modest way of thanking the dentists. For us, it was beautiful to enter small villages not as tourists. And it was beautiful seeing so many different people contributing to make this happen.