Dentists in Africa

by Leigh Moore

A material girl at heart, it was never my plan to explore the third world, even if I could have done it Brangelina-style.  Because, even with five-star accommodations, really, you’re still without McDonald’s Diet Cokes, aren’t  you?

I am a 43-year-old part-time teacher and full-time mom of three in Louisville, KY.  I am also a dentist, and while I haven’t filled many teeth since my husband and I began our family, I’ve always hoped to put all those years of  training to good use somehow. 

Moved by the countless reports of hunger and human rights abuses in Africa,  I went  to Uganda in 2008.    I stayed for a week and worked with friends in a school and orphanage setting.   Then,  earlier this year, I had the opportunity to join an Africa team with an entirely different focus.  The group, mPower, was gathering a few dental professionals for a training mission.  It turned out that they were headed to Uganda.  I was not sure it would be a good fit for me, but  I decided to learn more.

The founder of mPower, Charlie Vittitow,  is a retired  dentist who several years ago questioned whether or  not his hard work in dental missions was actually providing a net gain for the communities he visited.  At the end of one trip in particular, he witnessed hundreds of discouraged and disappointed patients still standing in line when there simply was no more time for him to stay and help.  He sought a way to serve the dental needs of the world in a sustainable way.Along with his friend, Steve Saint (whose family’s remarkable life story is documented in the movie End of the Spear), Charlie develop a dental training model which he has implemented in a dozen countries thus far. He, alongside other dental professionals, trains inhabitants to deliver palliative dental care to the hurting.  Yep, he teaches people, in the course of 6 days, to pull teeth—safely and effectively. 

It is perhaps a bitter prospect—to see one’s own four years of postgraduate education boiled down to 6 days.  The dental school rack might be smooth sailing for some; for me, it meant a necessary transition to waterproof mascara.   I sobbed through gross anatomy all-nighters, gagged on dozens of alginate impressions and caught my hair on fire while making dentures.  And Charlie Vittitow says he can teach people in a week?  No crying? 

When I met Charlie, I liked him.  I liked the other people who were planning to go.  More to the point, if I’m going to be 8000 miles from home, I make sure I’m the least resourceful—that is, the dumbest--person on the team.  I am dumber than my spouse and I like to be dumber than the people ushering me past immigration.   Charlie’s people were sharp.  Finally, I signed on.

Eleven days before our scheduled departure, Kampala was attacked.  Extremists took responsibility for the lives of scores of civilians whose only objective that day had been watching a soccer match.  We hit our knees in earnest prayer and navigated our way to the State Department website.  Frequently, we solicited the guidance of various well-placed friends and officials.  In the end, six of the seven of us found ourselves together in the Detroit airport eager to get to Uganda and begin training. Stay tuned for the rest of the story, on the SixSeeds Raindrop!