News

Guatemala Mission Trip
from Dr. Dave Basi

Guatemala is the northernmost nation in Central America. It has a land area approximately one-half the size of Minnesota. The country consists of cool highlands and tropical jungle areas. Mexico, Belize, Honduras and El Salvador border Guatemala. In 2006, the population of Guatemala was just over 13 million. The government of Guatemala is a constitutional democratic republic. This means that elected officials’ decision-making is subject to rule of law and is governed by the constitution. Guatemala’s main exports to the USA are sugarcane, bananas and coffee.

University of Minnesota OMFS in Guatemala
In January 2007, Pam Hughes and I traveled with a surgical team that included general and plastic surgeons and auxiliary personnel. The team is part of the non-profit organization called The International Humanitarian Surgical Team (IHST). The IHST has been providing surgical services to the people of Guatemala for over a decade. This year, the surgical team traveled from different parts of the US and met in Antigua, which is just North of Guatemala City. From Antigua we traveled to, and provided services in, the town of Chimaltenango.

The main clinic and operating rooms were located in the Berhorst Clinic (see below for details about the clinic), while Pam and I setup our improvised, outdoor clinic 6 blocks away. We brought all the dental equipment needed to provide basic dental services including exams and dentoalveolar surgery. We had the opportunity to examine 240 patients ranging from the very young to the elderly, and performed over 260 dental extractions. This was only possible with the help of our amazing interpreters. In addition, we aided the plastic surgeons in the operating room with multiple cleft lip and palate patients. All in all we worked hard, but are hopeful that we made a small, positive difference in our patients’ well-being. Our future plans include providing dental education to local health professionals so that they may better serve their respective communities.

The Berhorst Clinic
Chimaltenango is the town where, in 1962, Dr. Carroll Behrhorst founded a revolutionary medical program and clinic (Behrhorst Clinic) in a rural setting. The Behrhorst Clinic taught relatives to help care for their family members during times of illness and after surgical procedures. This was necessary due to the quantitative lack of local and national medical professionals. During the Guatemalan civil war in the 1980’s, Behrhorst-trained health promoters were killed indiscriminately by army counterinsurgency actions. This violence disrupted the health care program and subsequently caused health conditions to
worsen over the past decades. Access to care remains a significant problem to most Guatemalans. We are thankful for the opportunity to help the people of Guatemala.

The children of Guatamala

¡Muchas Gracias!
This trip would not have been possible without the help of many contributions from individuals and companies. Pam and I would like to extend our sincere gratitude to the following contributors: Septodont U.S.A., Oral and Maxillofacial Consultants P.A., with special thanks to Marian Williams, University of Minnesota School of Dentistry, The Division of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery. With special thanks to Ms. Barbara Kleist and Dr. Daniel Larson.

UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA OMS Bulletin, Volume 16, Spring 2007 (pdf 269k)