Dental Hygiene in Papua New Guinea!

I have recently started working one half day per week at the dental clinic here in Ukarumpa. Jon stays home with Macy and is able to get some work done from our home computer while she naps. Clara visits the daycare and is loving making lots of new friends.

There are two Dentists from South Korea that work in the clinic as well. We see clients from Wycliffe but also from other organizations. I work Friday mornings but when the girls get older I hope to work more often. I would love to work on Tuesdays. Tuesdays are called Valley Days because Papua New Guineans come from the valley nearby to get dental work done.

Obviously I am cleaning teeth, but I am also training a Papua New Guinean lady to learn how to be a dental assistant. We have made a deal. I will teach her how to be an assistant and she will help me with my Tok Pisin. We also have another assistant/ lab technician who has been working in the clinic for many years. He also did not go to school to receive any professional training but was trained at our clinic. He and one of the dentists just made a full set of dentures for a Papua New Guinean. That was the first time we have done that in our clinic. The only way it was done before was to get it made in the States which would cost a lot of money and so most Papua New Guineans and ex-pats could not afford them.

Our dental receptionist is also a Papua New Guinean women. I asked her the other day how long it takes her to get to work. She walks for 45 min to an hour to get to Ukarumpa! Then at the end of the day another hour to get home. By the time she gets home it is almost dark.

There are many differences working in a PNG dental clinic. The best difference is that all of my clients are Christ followers and I get to hear their stories of how they came to serve in PNG!

 (Cheesy picture of me in the clinic! Oh and I am the only one in the dental/medical clinic that wears scrubs. Most people laugh at me but I don't want what's in people's mouths to go on my other clothes! )

(Front entrance into the clinic)

"Praise the Lord! I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart, 

in the company of the upright, in the congregation." 

Psalm 111:1