Dental care is hard to access in Papua New Guinea. I knew this was the case in the remote parts of Western Province where I’m used to working, but it was only earlier this year when we were running clinics closer to the nation’s capital, Port Moresby, that I realised living in the capital city didn’t really change this fact.
The demand for dental care simply exceeds the services available (there are only 62 dentists in the nation of over 9 million people), and many people, despite their efforts, are unable to access basic services.
At about the same time as I was finding this out, our dental trailer, a semi-trailer fitted out as a dental clinic, had made its way from Australia to our campus in Port Moresby. The trailer contains three dental chairs and a sterilisation unit, making it a dental clinic on wheels.
The intent was to do the first outreach with the dental trailer later in the year, a pilot program to help establish our program for bringing primary dentistry into the schools of Port Moresby. This wasn’t something I thought I would be a part of, but a few weeks ago I was part of that first outreach.
Day one of outreach with the trailer all set up and ready in the school grounds.
I get a few questions about the different roles I’ve had in PNG, and to be honest the diversity of what I’ve been a part of is something that continues to surprise me, but it sometimes takes me a minute to get my head around.
A story I’m always reminded of is the story of the boy who brought Jesus a few fish and loaves of bread, and Jesus proceeded to feed thousands from the boy giving what he had. I heard a teaching on this passage once about how, like that boy, Jesus asks us to offer what is in our ‘basket’, whether that’s our gifts and talents, professional expertise, or time, and watch how he can use what we bring to the table.
I’m a long way from the operating rooms I used to call home (and one day someone may again ask me a question about eye surgery and that day will just be great!) but I’m constantly surprised at how God continues to use what is in my basket for different situations, even when I don’t think it’s relevant or enough.
During the week long outreach I got to work in a team of 22 people, representing 12 countries and 12 provinces from within PNG. We screened over 130 children, completed close to 200 primary dental procedures, and gave oral health education to over 400 children.
Dental screenings: Our dentists screened each child’s mouth to determine the health of their teeth and if they needed any dental treatment.
Treatment inside the trailer
I can’t personally fix teeth but I can help build a data collection tool. Make a process for dealing with patient paperwork on the fly. Help with patient flow and talking parents through the care their child is getting in a dental chair.
I can also get my heart captured for the potential of this trailer as I sit with children’s parents during their procedures and hear the same story echoed of being unable to access dental care. Of how they have lined up at the dental clinic in the early hours of the morning in the hope of being seen that day. Of how, when they weren’t able to be seen, they lined up the next week, the week after that, and the week after that. That eventually after lining up week after week there was a point where you just stop lining up, and tooth pain became something their child lived with. And the look of relief on their faces when our dentists were able to pull the tooth that had been causing trouble, sometimes for weeks or months, and occasionally years.
When you take a few steps further back it can feel like a drop in the ocean type stuff. But I’m reminded that Jesus didn’t hesitate to feed the people in front of him just because it wasn’t ending world hunger, and he calls us to love the people in front of us with what we have.
The dental trailer looks to be an incredible tool for doing just that and I’m excited to see how it will continue to grow in 2023!
PS: If you have any questions about what I’m up to or what I have been up to please reach out – I’d love to chat! If you would like to consider donating to help support me financially in the work I do here please check out this link for more details.