News Release

CWRU dental students launch community clinic in Dominican Republic

Peer-Reviewed Publication

Case Western Reserve University



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CLEVELAND -- Students and faculty at CWRU's School of Dentistry have launched a new community dental clinic in Guaricano, an impoverished city in the Dominican Republic.

Little more than 18 months ago, that clinic was just an idea taking shape in the mind of CWRU dental student Jeff Luffey. Since then, he and others at the dental school have obtained a space for the clinic and raised enough money to do basic renovations.

Earlier this month, Luffey, 10 other dental students, and two faculty members spent a week of their summer break at the clinic, bringing much-needed dental care to Guaricano. A private practice dentist and dental assistant from Utah also volunteered, and two Dominican dentists joined the effort.

Eager residents showed up before dawn each day, hoping to garner one of the 50 numbered tickets that would assure them a slot on the day's appointment book. "The tickets would be gone by 5:30 or 6 in the morning," said Mike Hansen, a senior dental student from Orange County, California. "Then even people who didn't get tickets would wait around, hoping that we could sneak them in, but usually that didn't happen."

Over five days, the CWRU dental team provided dental care for 247 patients, and did exams on several others in preparation for their next visit. In addition to the 11 students, the team included James Lalumandier, head of the dental school's Department of Community Dentistry; Sally Baden, an assistant clinical professor; Dale Hibbert, a pediatric dentist in Salt Lake City; and Cathi Valentine, a dental assistant from Layton, Utah.

The team did everything from cleanings and dental sealants to extractions and fillings. Since the clinic is still unequipped, the team took portable dental units, which included high-speed drills. Lacking dental chairs for patients, the students used those ubiquitous resin lawn chairs. For dental lights, Guaricano residents took turns pointing flashlights toward the patients' mouths.

Each patient was given a toothbrush, toothpaste, and instructions on how to use them. For some, it was likely their first toothbrush, said junior dental student David Halls.

Six of the CWRU dental students speak Spanish, notes Hansen. "Two Peace Corps volunteers also helped us with translations and with oral hygiene instruction," he said. "They were wonderful."

Of those not fluent in the language, including him, Hansen said, "We did facial gestures, a lot of pointing. When we ran into trouble, we'd go grab someone that did speak Spanish to help us."

In addition to Luffey, Halls, and Hansen, the following dental students participated in the August visit: seniors Scott Neil, Craig Ritchie, and Mark Oblad; juniors Chris Erskine, Rob Barber, Kenny Dibble, and Lance Crowther; and sophomore Chad Harris.

Luffey learned of Guaricano's dire lack of medical care in early 1999, when he attended a presentation at the CWRU medical school by Douglas VanAuken, an assistant professor in the Department of Family Practice and a staff doctor at MetroHealth Medical Center's Center for Community Health.

In 1997-98, VanAuken helped establish a small public health clinic in Guaricano in cooperation with the Federation of Dominican Popular Organizations (FEDOPO), a neighborhood organization in the Dominican Republic. Since then, he has taken groups of CWRU medical students, faculty, and other area practitioners on several volunteer missions to the clinic, which a few Dominican public health doctors staff during the rest of the year.

On hearing about VanAuken's work there, Luffey decided to try to set up a similar dental clinic. At VanAuken's invitation, Luffey and two others from the dental school made a one-week scouting trip in February to Guaricano, where they met with top government health officials and the head of FEDOPO. He said they could use the unfinished second level of the medical clinic building for their proposed dental clinic.

While there, Luffey, fellow student Mark Murdock, and associate professor Sam Byers, an oral and maxillofacial surgeon, spent two days providing dental care in the medical clinic.

Due to the anticipated demand for their services, they used the numbered ticket system. "In the first two hours we passed out 150 numbers," Murdock recalls. "We had to ask some to go home and come back the next day."

Over the two days, they did 120 fluoride treatments -- until they used up their fluoride supply -- as well as 35 extractions, 140 sealant treatments, and 14 fillings. Of the 150 patients, 63 had never been to a dentist before.

Since that February visit, Luffey and others at the dental school have raised about $9,000 toward renovating and finishing the 2,000-square-foot, second-story space. VanAuken added about $2,000 in other donations and coordinated the renovations with FEDOPO. When the CWRU team departed for Guaricano on August 1, they weren't certain how much of the work was done, but were quite pleasantly surprised.

All the walls, floors, and plumbing were in, a generator had been installed to provide reliable electricity, and most of the windows were in. Some painting and finishing continued through the week. The next step is raising money to furnish and equip the clinic.

During the August 1-9 visit, Lalumandier met with the dean of the dental school in Santo Domingo, the nation's capital. "When we go down there again, he would like to send over some students to work with our students," Lalumandier said. "Long term, I would like to set up an externship program between our two schools."

For the time being, however, he and CWRU dental school Dean Jerold Goldberg are seeking a way to establish the students' volunteer work in the Dominican Republic as an official dental school program. And Lalumandier is already thinking about the next trip.

"The initial plan was to go again next summer, but other students have talked to those who went down, and we now have another cadre of students who are interested," Lalumandier said. "We may have enough students to go in December or January."

All the students and faculty paid their own travel and expenses, Lalumandier points out. Contributions to the clinic are channeled through the Bridge Foundation, a tax-exempt organization. Donation checks made out to the Bridge Foundation may be sent to the Dominican Project, c/o finance manager Ken Dibble, at 4015 Ardmore Road, Cleveland, OH 44121.

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