As part of its cooperation commitment to Belize, U.S. SOUTHCOM has deployed a detachment of engineers to Belize to oversee the construction of three two-classroom school buildings in the Orange Walk District. Accompanying the New Horizons Project this year is a dental clinic. Today we visited Orange Walk Town and saw how some 1,000 school children have been treated by a team of 10 dentists who've set up a clinic in the Orange Walk Sports Complex.
Alfonso Noble Reporting,
We took off from BDF's Air wing this morning in a black hawk helicopter headed for Orange Walk Town. We landed at the football field and visited the multipurpose sports complex where we found this, the basketball court had been turned into a multi-station dental clinic. Colonel Bob Spiller and Captain Sherie Lampe are two of ten dentists treating children from schools in the Orange Walk District.
Col. Bob Spiller,
"Mainly we've given cleaning and then we've put some sealants on which is a little plastic that prevent cavities and then we do fillings and then extractions of teeth so that is basically what we do."
Capt. Sherie Lampe,
"A lot of what we are doing is anything that they need as far as cleanings, sealants, extractions, very few extractions, fillings, anything that they need done."
But these dentists say that the children don't need much, because dentally, they're healthy.
Capt. Sherie Lampe,
"A lot of these children have really taken good care of their teeth. Every once in a while we get one that doesn't have very good oral hygiene but a lot better than I thought."
Col. Bob Spiller,
"I thought there'd be a lot of cavities and problems but most of them, I say 90% are in pretty good shape, maybe a little small cavity. They all have nice teeth, they are great teeth and also very cooperative. You know the kids in the U.S., sometimes they are a little squeamish but even the six or seven year old who we have to give a shot to, they hold stiff and I've been very impressed with the kids."
But the kids are not the only ones being cooperative. District Dental Officer and the one who requested this assistance is Dr. Karl Meggs. He says the dental clinic benefits both Belizean children and these soldiers.
Dr. Karl Meggs, District Medical Officer - Orange Walk
"The soldiers gain their training, we gain the fact that the children that we could never ever get to see to do curative treatment will also be receiving of service."
Col. Bob Spiller,
"It's a humanitarian mission to help out kids, a lot of them haven't
seen the dentist or maybe have only seen the dentist one time. Also it is our two week training that we need to do for the army reserve and also to see Belize I guess."
Capt. Sherie Lampe,
"Its just a great opportunity to do something for someone. I have a skill, I am a dentist, and its gives me an opportunity to help someone who may not get this care. It is an opportunity to train our assistants because they don't do this in the real world, they don't do this in their civilian life, so its an opportunity for us to train them and to show them how to actually be a dentist or be an assistant. We don't see this volume of children at all, no. We are seeing a lot of kids very quickly so it's a good experience."
Dr. Kart Meggs,
"One of the main services that they offering here is the sealants. Sealants is the plastic coating that we do on the molars, particularly this age group, at six and twelve years old. Children do not have the dexterity to keep the tooth surface of their teeth clean. Hence by putting that plastic coating, what that does is prevent any sticky substance from getting to the tooth surface. So in the long term the children that we saw here today, eighteen years from now they will have no problems when it comes to decay to lose their molars. The cost of this alone and the manpower, it has to come from a help such as this."
U.S. Ambassador to Belize Robert Deiter says it's the first time a Dentrette has been held in Belize but it will surely not be the last.
Ambassador Robert Deiter,
"This is the first time that they've done a Denrette, a dedicated Denrette, for a whole week and hopefully we are going to be able to see more of these. I know that the dental group wants to try to do this more often and hopefully we'll be back."
Brig. Gen. Lloyd Gillett,
"The BDF is always looking for ways to leverage our good relationship with the US SOUTHCOM to attract benefits to Belize. That may be building schools, that may be having a MEDRETTE or a DENRETTE, there is a hospital ship that is coming in June that will have surgery available to the local population and so there are other things that we are looking at that will help the Belizean public to be healthy and for the country to be secure."
Secure and after this exercise smiling about it.
The Dentrette Exercise began on the 13th of March and will go until tomorrow afternoon.
