Photo: Dr. Nekky Jamal, a local dentist, was in Guatemala recently plying his trade. – Submitted
By Andrea Nicholl
A local dentist has given the children of Guatemala something to smile about.
Dr. Nekky Jamal, of Wayside Dental, has returned from his one-week humanitarian effort in Jalapa, Guatemala after providing oral health care to hundreds of underprivileged children.
“It was unreal, they’ve never seen a dentist before and these kids have mouths full of decay and infection,” said Jamal. “You always prepare yourself for the worst, but you never think it’s that bad. You never think you’re going to have to pull eight or nine teeth at a time.”
While in Jalapa, Jamal and the Kindness in Action team worked in an all-girls orphanage and three local elementary schools. The majority of patients were children, though some adults did manage to access care.
“By about 10 in the morning the community found out we were there, and so the adults started lining up too,” said Jamal. “We saw everyone from 4-year-olds to 75-year-olds.”
“We provided a ton of work in just four days. We worked all day and some nights, using headlamps to do dentistry in the pitch dark.”
The team of eight dentists and a few assistants treated nearly 1,200 people, extracted more than 1,400 teeth, completed over 500 filings and did hundreds of cleanings.
“A lot of the stuff you would do in a hospital here, you don’t have the privilege of doing down there,” said Jamal. “There were huge smiles on their faces after we pulled a couple of teeth because they knew we were there just to help them and they were really appreciative.”
The dentistry abroad project was the first for Jamal, though he says he’s eager to make it an annual endeavour, with plans already in place to travel to Peru next year.
“I can’t wait to go back. It’s just awesome to study for so many years and go to help people that actually need it. I want to get more dentists down there helping people, just to show them what dentistry is really all about.”
For more information about Kindness in Action visit www.kindnessinaction.ca.