Bangladesh

What an amazing experience this has already been. For some reason jet lag has not been a big issue but I am warned it will be on the way home. We arrived in Dhaka in the early hours of the morning and then rose early the next day to head for our first day of clinic. There were 67 children waiting to be screened to see if they would receive cleft surgery. I sat at my dental desk and basically checked to see if the kids had teeth and if they did were they old enough to try and have them come to me to get their teeth cleaned. It was amazing seeing all these children and their parents waiting for us. Some of the kids' situations are really complicated and it was so sad to see the red dots on their charts meaning they would not be eligible for surgery. As the last one in the line it sometimes was me telling the parent that their child would not be getting surgery but I could clean their teeth- what a let down for them. 

This morning we rose early and were at the hospital at 7 am. Things got a slow start as equipment needed to be worked on to get it running properly. I didn't get started until after 10 when I was able to round up a translator/guide. My clinic is down two floors and around the hospital. The hand piece is not compatible to what I use and there is no cavitron so I am doing the best I can with what I have there. I have never wished to be a dentist more than I have as I worked on these kids. I saw 6 today (the dental clinic is in an area of the hospital that closes at 2 so that limited how many kids I could see. Tomorrow I plan on working with more. 

Anyway, here are a few photos of what I have seen so far.... 

This little boy is the friendliest kid ever. He just makes us all smile

One of the doctors examining a prospective patient

Waiting anxiously for the clinic to start