Day 5 Dental Clinic in Iquitos

The whole team is taken to the dental clinic.  Six of us working inside, 12 outside.  The Insiders were the dental team, the Outsiders spread two huge piles of sand to build a driveway to the dental clinic.  However, the day’s challenge began just getting out of out camp.  Again, the long walkway to get off the island, but the Amazon continues to rise, so sandals or rubber boots for everyone.  Also, the road has deteriorated so badly that we have to walk another 1/2 mile to be picked up by the truck.  The truck was a half hour late, (of course), so waiting in the sun with the heat and humidity we were drenched with sweat before we even started working!

Now the clinic.  Recently built and very nice, waiting room, storage room, sterilization room and two operatories.  We held patients off for an hour so I could organize the instruments a bit.  That was the challenge.  These third world dental clinics are basically a dumping ground for dentists to get rid of supplies and instruments that are either broken, out of date or no longer useful.  There were way too many of some things, and way too little of others.  For instance, they had thousands of needles but no gloves.  This is why Gloria and I bring all our own equipment and supplies.  You don’t have to depend on what is in the clinic you are working at.

Patients queue up.  We quickly realize that the patients we are seeing are there for a free filling to replace the one placed by a local dentist that had fallen out.  Not really what we want to do.  One even asked if we bleached teeth!  No extractions, just fillings.  This means we saw only a few patients and really not why we came to Peru; to replace crappy work by local dentists.  Time to regroup.

Our journey back to the island was interesting.  We had to haul in the food and water for the next few days.  So multiple trips from the drop off point, through the little town and across the bridge, several times. After we showered, it was back out the the local church in town for a kid’s program.  We had over 60 kids for songs and making things with pipe cleaners.  They had great fun. Then the walk back to camp.  Lots of walking on this trip.

 

As we were getting ready for bed, suddenly it turned cooler, (still very hot) and within minutes a rain came in like I have never experienced.  It poured so hard, (with constant thunder) that the bottom of our tent felt like it was on a water bed!  We stayed dry, others weren’t as lucky.  The boy’s tent leaked so badly that two of the boy’s sleeping bags were soaked.