NEWS

By MEEGAN P. SMITH
UNC-CH News Services

CHAPEL HILL -- Children living in the Nuestros Pequenos Hermanos Orphanage in Miacatlan, Mexico will receive extra dental care and companionship this summer from students at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Dentistry.

In July, 10 students will participate in the UNC-CH Dental Mexico Project, a month-long service project organized by the school. Since the program’s inception in 1987, the school has sent 10 students each summer to live in the Mexican orphanage and provide dental care to the 700 children living there.

Students go as volunteers; they don’t receive academic credit for their participation. But Dr. Ronald Strauss, the project’s faculty adviser, said students are rewarded with hands-on practical experience.

"There are more students who want to do this than we have room for," Strauss said. "They get involved in the lives of the children -- so it becomes more than just going there and working in a dental clinic."

After an orientation session with Professor Alfonso Rodriguez-Galvin at the University of Mexico in Mexico City and at various medical sites in the city, the dental students begin work at the orphanage. They work in a small clinic with basic dental supplies donated by dentists and dental suppliers in the United States before the program begins. Their work, which includes preventive care, dental health education and some minor restorations, is supervised by a dentist responsible for the Miacatlan community and who works part time at the clinic year-round.

The student volunteers finance the $12,000 project -- which includes airfare, food, housing and vaccinations -- themselves through fund-raisers and contributions.

Strauss said the students develop close friendships with the orphans and even share their living and eating quarters.

"The children are so grateful and the dental students are such great people," Strauss said. "That’s what really creates the bond -- working and living together."

Brian McMurtry, a second-year dental student from Florida, participated last year. He now maintains the project’s World Wide Web site to remain involved in the project.

"Once you are involved in the Mexico Project, you are always involved," McMurtry said. "It’s almost a life-changing experience because you really see how the other half lives. It’s not something you are exposed to every day."

He said the major service students provide orphans is friendship, not dental care. "What’s more important is being there for the kids -- just being with them," McMurtry said. "These kids have absolutely nothing. It makes you want to do more for them."

He said the main dental problem facing Mexican children is the lack of fluoridated water, resulting in prevalent tooth decay. "When you see decay, it’s really decay," he said.

Amy Plant, a second-year dental student from Taylorsville, N.C., decided to participate in the project this summer when she heard last year’s volunteers speak enthusiastically about their experiences.

"They have so little down there," Plant said. "It’s a good chance to see the reality of how people live. We are going to do as much cleaning and help as much as we can in the little time that we are there."

More information, including pictures from the 1998 Mexico Project, can be accessed at www.dent.unc.edu/student/mexico.

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(Smith is a junior journalism and mass communication major from Charleston, S.C.)

News Services contact: Karen Stinneford, 919-962-8415