Humble Miracles By: Jerome Smith, DDS

A decade ago two Cajun dentists, Carl Breaux and I, ventured along with our wives to Southern Mexico to visit Reverend Larry Myers. Our mission was to help a few dental patients in need and to enjoy the tropical sands and sun of Acapulco, Mexico. As it turned out the trip was exhausting; we saw many more patients and much more need than we had anticipated.

“People were lined up everywhere,” recalls Carl. “We removed hundreds of teeth and not one patient complained while receiving care or about having to wait.”

That was the humble beginning of Clinica Betel in Atoyac, Mexico, 60 kilometers northwest of Acapulco in the state of Guererro. It has evolved into its own building with a medical-dental clinic and hospital. While large in stature, it’s simple in its cinderblock construction, whitewash paint and humble interior. It is a symbol of hope and relief for those who have so little.

During the past 10 years, many trips have been taken to Atoyac with volunteer dentists and physicians from around the United States including the publisher of Dentaltown Magazine, Dr. Howard Farran. As I looked back over some of the photos, huge smiles are found on the faces of the volunteers. I recall the Tsotzial Indian mother who walked five miles carrying her infant and her child who walked alongside her. The woman had many extractions and then stayed for a church service that evening before returning home. I also recall the young fellow who walked eight miles through the jungle in Chiapas to reach the clinic. He had 12 teeth removed and wanted to return home that evening. Dr. Farran made him stay and spend the night. Then, his interests went beyond the dentistry to the plight of the children arriving with intestinal worms, a result of eating contaminated foods. Although we’d brought a hefty supply of mebendazole (a medicine specifically for treatment of this painful condition) our supply ran out before the third day of our trip. I’ll never forget that look of extreme concern, despondency, and then resolve on Dr. Farran’s face when the utter realization that, although we had the funds, we simply couldn’t purchase any more medicine because it was not available. This was yet another new dose of reality for all of us.

On one trip home Dr. Jim Nichols, Dr. Breaux and I brought a young boy by the name of Nabor back to Lafayette for surgical repair of a bilateral cleft palate at Lafayette General Medical Center by Russel Romero, DDS, MD. Our community embraced this little fellow and much support was offered to him and later to our cause in Mexico. If fact, in addition to our dental volunteers, physicians from our community and beyond have become intensely involved in this endeavor. For example: Dr. Romero has done hundreds of cleft lip and palate surgeries under general anesthesia in the two operating rooms on the second floor of the clinic building; Dr. Angela Mayeux has performed multiple orthopedic surgeries and recently she performed the first arthroscopic knee surgery in the area; and Ed Graul, an ophthalmologist from Eunice, Louisiana, has begun performing cataract surgeries and is a welcome addition to this growing clinic.

After finding out about our mission work, the dean of Louisiana State University’s School of Dentistry, Dr. Eric Hovland, immediately offered the support of the school and encouraged senior dental students to get involved. To motivate them he allowed the seniors a week externship credit and funded their flights from the U.S. The experience of spending a week in the remote mountain villages surrounding Atoyac is incredible for these dentists-in-training. Not only are the students able to perform many procedures, they are in a great learning environment with plenty of opportunities to interact with seasoned dentists in treatment planning, diagnosis as well as various surgical and restorative techniques. Services offered at the clinic include extractions, resin and amalgam fillings, digital radiography, endodontics, stainless-steel crowns, Monodont bridges (to replace missing anterior teeth), dental implants, and limited fixed and removable prosthodontics. Oral hygiene and post-operative instructions are usually given through translators. Infection control, although quite a challenge at times, is maintained with Statim autoclaves and cold-sterile solutions.

When we leave Mexico, we return home and become absorbed in our busy families, dental practices, weekend activities and jam-packed lives. The memories of the people we helped slowly drift from our minds...but the people don’t forget us. The people of Mexico are left with sense of wonder that doctors and volunteers from America would pack their bags, leave behind family, income, comfort, and safety to offer them aid. They are so grateful it is almost palpable.

Personally, I am very grateful for the privilege of growing up in the United States, the proverbial “land of opportunity”. I’m equally grateful for the skills I’ve acquired as a dentist––being able to relieve pain and restore esthetics and function for those, who through no fault of their own, cannot help themselves. I try and imagine what it would be like to sit up all night in a mud hut with a crying child, perhaps my own daughter, suffering from a severe toothache and not being able to do anything about it. I imagine having a disfigured child who is teased by other children because of their deformity, whether it be a facial cleft or a malformed ear or foot, and not being able to do a thing about it. I try and imagine living a life like Rev. Myers, Father Tom Shaffer, Deana Shaffer and countless others who have chosen a life of complete service to the poor in a foreign country, far away from family and friends. They have to worry about short supplies of medicines, diminishing funds and having to turn patients in need away. In the end, I am simply left with my own clear sense of purpose—I will continue to help them as best I can through financial support, returning to assist them in this worthy endeavor and spreading the word to others.

Some people wonder what we are really accomplishing. Clinica Betel is just a small entity, we are there for such short periods of time and the needs are great. My best response is the Story of the Starfish by Loren Easley. In it, a youth throwing numerous starfish that had washed on shore back into the sea is seen by an adult. The adult tells the youth, “There are more starfish on this beach than you can ever save…. Surely you cannot expect to make a difference.” The youth throws another starfish into the sea and replies, “It made a difference to that one.”

If you’d like to help this cause, please send your tax-deductible donation to:
The Mexico Medical/Dental Project
229 Bendel Road
Lafayette, LA 70503

For more information concerning upcoming trips, our photo gallery, upcoming medical and dental campaigns, please go to our Web site at Latinworldministries.com.

Dr. Smith is a native of Lafayette, Louisiana and graduated from L.S.U. School of Dentistry in 1980. Dr. Smith has worked in conjunction with over 60 general dentists and other specialists throughout the state of Louisiana in providing implant dental care for their patients as well as teaching these concepts to practitioners for the past 18 years. He has conducted numerous lectures and published several articles on various subjects in Dental Implantology and Digital Imaging/Dental Office Computerization and Networking throughout the US and Mexico.

Dr. Smith helped to start a dental mission for the poor in southern Mexico 13 years ago which through the help of other dentists and physicians, most of which were graduates of LSU Medical School and LSU School of Dentistry, has blossomed into a fully functioning medical clinic/hospital and dental clinic. Dr. Smith was also one of the original dentists to help start the Lafayette Community Healthcare Clinic.