ECUADOR 2009
The 2009 Children’s International Dental Project traveled to Ecuador for two weeks in April/May - and partnered with the Judith Lombeida Medical Foundation, lead by Mark Backlin. Mark started the Foundation in memory of his wife, who was a native of Ecuador, and a Neurosurgeon serving in the US Air Force. She had done medical missions to Ecuador in cooperation with the Ecuadorian Air Force.

Our 13-member volunteer group consisted of four dentists and eight assistants, along with Mark, who was our connection to enter the country, find locations in which to work and transportation to them. Most of our volunteers came from Colorado, along with one from New York and one from Florida. Our participants were: Dr. Jim and Pat Orban, Dr. Jay and Connie Jo Kriss, Dr. Rosalinda Lacy, Dr. Ron Smith, Scotty Scott, Connie Jo Jack, Christine Beyer, Candace Johnson, Kelly Derosier, Beverly Moore and Mark Backlin.

We worked in two villages: Cayambe and Guaranda. Mark is a member of the Rotary Club which has a program called “Adopt-a-Village” and Cayambe, north of Quito, is one of their locations where they are trying to establish dental care. Guaranda is a village, to the south, where Judith Lombeida had grown up and still has family.

During our work, we were able to see approximately 300 children and adults, do more than 350 fillings and 125 extractions. Many more than that received preventive instruction, tooth brushes and handouts (in their language) on dental care and nutrition. We also enjoyed seeing the wide variety of country ranging from Quito to the rainforest and the volcanoes. We are planning to do another mission to Ecuador in 2010.

AFRICA 2007
Our 2007 dental project in Africa found us once again affiliated with the Nazarene church, through our friends Dr. Bob Meyers and Wes Taylor. First we traveled to Dakar, Senegal for a week of dental work with Dr. John Ley's missionary friend Herma. We stayed on her compound and worked in their chapel, where we treated about 250 children and adults. We then flew to Johannesburg and took a few days to go on a safari, where we had a wonderful time looking for the "Big Five".

Then we went on to Madagascar, where we stayed for ten days, working at another Nazarene Church compound that had been built primarily to feed and educate street kids. They did a magnificent job of that — taking care of about 450 kids each day — and, in our time there, we provided exams, extractions, amalgam and some tooth-colored fillings on most of them. We provide this service wherever we go, as long as we have electricity.

Before heading home, the group was able to take a couple of days off to see the famous lemurs of Madagascar. This year's participants were Dr. Jim and Pat Orban, Wes Taylor, Dr. Bob and Diane Meyer, Dr. John Ley, Scotty Scott, Chris Beyer, Deborah Bailey, Katie Franck and Mark Taylor.

ARGENTINA 2004 & 2005
By 2005 a total of six dentists and ten helpers were able to venture into South America to work in Pilar and several surrounding areas outside Buenos Aires. For the first time, our group of volunteers worked closely with a religious organization - the Nazarene Church - and the experience was fantastic.

SAMOA 2002
By this time, our portable dental units had taken a beating and required extensive repairs. Again, from contributions, I purchased three Aseptico portable dental units and I now have a fourth one. They perform very well under the conditions which we work Our next trip took us to Independent Samoa working through their Rotary Club. One of the local Rotary Clubs has been very supportive of our outreach program and helped facilitate this.

NEPAL 1987 - 2001
In 1987, my friends Woody and Penny Strong had already been to Nepal several times and were able to help me make the necessary contacts and arrangements for our clinics. But I was the only dentist, with a single assistant, and could only do examinations and extractions. I was disheartened that, too often, the extractions were of permanent teeth that could have been filled.

The next year, another dentist joined me and I was able to borrow a portable dental unit from the Christian Dental Society. Now we were able to do fillings and save teeth that otherwise would have become painful or require extraction. But the unit was in three pieces - the unit, air tank and compressor – and the arrangement was cumbersome.

Through donations from patients and friends, I was able to purchase two portable dental units that were self-contained in a small metal box. Now, two dentists could really produce a significant amount of dentistry. This worked so well that I purchased another unit. Then, another dentist and a couple of lay people (my patients) wanted to go along. So we became eight: three dentists and five helpers. And, we continued to grow. We traveled to Nepal on nine separate occasions and the largest group totaled 18.