Opening the Dental Surgery
January 15, 2008 by Vicky
The Prideaux family went to Malawi in June 2006. They joined the staff of St Andrews Clinic for two weeks. Malcolm and Bridget are both dentists, Sam, a pharmacy student, worked in the dispensary, David worked with Andy, the lab technician and Jonny made new friends at the school.
They saw patients like this lady with serious problems
Our instruments were sterilized in what looked like a large pressure-cooker so that we could do our best for young patients like Arthur as well as older patients who had toothache.
The staff were very keen to teach local people how to look after their teeth better. but we found that over half the people we saw had dental decay. So we promised the people of Mtunthama that we would try to get them their own dental surgery.
Our application to the charity, ‘Dentaid’ was successful, and they agreed to send a surgery to St Andrews clinic. The equipment travelled from Dentaid’s Headquarters in Salisbury over 5,000 miles to Mtunthama carefully packed and crated for the journey.
Crate from Dentaid
In November 2007 Malcolm returned to Mtunthama with a suitcase full of supplies to check that all was well with the crate and that the dental surgery would soon be ready for treating patients.
Malcolm Prideaux doing a checkup
Don the dental therapist looking very pleased with the new chair
With special thanks to Dentaid for their help in finding equipment for our surgery, and preparing it for the journey. Medic Malawi will continue to support the work in the new dental surgery.
Malcolm would like to thank you all for your prayers and support during his visit.
December 2007