Madagascar Mercy Ships Moment #9 - Just an ordinary day in the dental clinic

So life on a hospital ship in Madagascar is never boring...Living very closely with a community of about 400 volunteers aboard a relatively small ship has its share of challenges, but the benefits far out weigh them all. This weekend was a great example with the much awaited annual Africa Mercy International Film Festival! Any and all crew members can put together a short movie on the subject of their choice and submit the film to be judged by a panel of "experts" on the ship from around the world. The premiere viewing of the films is a well attended formal event for all those living on the ship complete with an after party of hors d'oeuvres and mocktails (aka non-alcoholic drinks). Ok, I'll be the first to admit that we do get a little desperate for entertainment here on the ship, especially with an early 9 pm curfew when everyone must be on the ship even during the weekends. But the film festival is lots of fun and this year my friend Karen and I filmed a production called "Just an Ordinary Day" to give people a glimpse of life on the dental team. So if you're interested, check out a link to the movie hopefully coming soon. Acting is credited to the amazing dental crew, and the technical aspect of putting the film together was outsourced to the USA where my brother Jay stayed up late to get the movie finished before a tight deadline. Enjoy!

In Madagascar with Mercy Ships - warning: shots and lemur photos

So just in case anyone is wondering where I am right now, the answer is Madagascar, an island off the east coast of Africa and famous for LEMURS! I'm actually writing this update as I'm riding in a small boat on a 3 hour river trip returning from a lemur reserve. However, the purpose of my time in Madagascar is not only for the lemurs (as incredibly cute and amazing as they actually are) but to volunteer on the Mercy Ships dental team again for the next 2 months or so. My friend Karen and I arrived Sunday the 15th in the port town of Tamatave, Madagascar where the ship is presently docked and have already put in almost 2 weeks of work at the dental clinic with a team of familiar faces and new friends. I worked as a dental assistant the first week with Toni, a children's dental care provider from Australia, who also worked with me on same team in Congo last year. Toni, our Malagasy translators Arlin and Jacquiot, and I make up the pediatric specialty of the dental clinic. We treat all the kids much to our delight and others relief, with usually only a few screamers a day. Stickers, stuffed animals, and balloons help to make the dental treatment a little more tolerable, although we've found Malagasy teeth to usually be in very bad condition. Most of the kids need multiple extractions and many fillings for baby and permanent teeth. One little toddler even came in pain from all of her upper front teeth being completely rotted into the gums. It's heartbreaking to see so much neglect and decay especially in the mouths of children. But, we're all happy to help save what teeth we can, remove the the teeth that can't be saved, and hopefully teach some good oral hygiene habits at the same time. After running out of pediatric patients for the day, my new job becomes giving local anesthesia to adults or the dreaded "novacaine" shots and extracting a few teeth, after the patient is numb of course. For my second week of work I'm filling in for a dental hygienist who couldn't come at the last minute, so there has been lots of variety in the dental clinic so far. I'm definitely looking forward to what the next few weeks on the ship brings and to seeing some more lemurs this weekend!  

 

    The dental pediatric pro team

Madagascar Mercy Moment #10 - Dentist jokes

One of my favorite friends on the ship is Saulo a nice dentist from Peru... who happens to be sitting here right now helping me update my blog. He tells the original story about a particular dentist who didn't have any patients at all. This dentist was desperate for dental patients so he put this sign on his door:
Extractions - 10,000 ariarys (local money) without pain
                      20,000 ariarys with pain
A man with a tooth ache happened to be walking by, saw this sign, and decided to enter the dentist office. The dentist greets the man, takes him to the dental chair and says sit down please. "Which option do you want? The extraction with or without pain?" The patient responds - "Without pain of course! 10,000 aryarys right?" So the dentist starts extracting the bad tooth when the patient screams in pain. The dentist responds with - "If you keep screaming, I will have to charge you 20,000 aryarys." The end :)

L-R: Saulo, Julie, Celeste - SOME people like to work!

NEW Madagascar mini series

10 Madagascar Mercy Ships Moments is being launched today to share some of the daily happenings here on a hospital ship docked in the unique port town of Tamatave, Madagascar. Limited free time, technology, and internet connection may hinder the success of the series...but let's see how it goes :)