Something as simple as a visit to the dentist's office is a luxury in many African nations, where lack of dental care often turns deadly. But with your help, SIM, in partnership with Mercy Ships, is working to save lives and to restore hope through a new dentistry project in Liberia, West Africa. In mid-July 2008, the Trinity Dental Clinic was opened in this war torn nation — where only six dentists can be found in a country of nearly 3.5 million.
The need is great. Most Liberians cannot afford a regular visit to the dentist, leaving them vulnerable to disease brought on by abscessed teeth and decaying jawbones due to chronic infections. Without treatment, many will die.
Sadly, most of these critical dental problems would never have happened had Liberians had better access to a dentist, who could have stopped the problems with a simple cavity filling or a chat about preventative care.
The four-room clinic, located on the outskirts of Monrovia at the Eternal Love Winning Africa Hospital, will provide four times more space than is currently available to provide dental care and to perform life-saving surgeries.
Training Others
But the new Trinity Dental Clinic doesn't just aim to radically improve the lives of Liberians by ensuring that they receive quality dental care.
The clinic also will be a learning lab, where Liberians will shadow SIM missionaries Frieda Schmidt and Keith Chapman as they work. The goal is to train Liberians to become the country's future dental professionals who can model Jesus Christ's love through the dentistry field.
Frieda Schmidt, a dental therapist, and Keith Chapman, a dentist, plan to meet the needs of patients not only in the Monrovia area, but also the needs of those who are living in remote parts of the country. Portable dental units will make it possible to visit villages to perform simple cleanings and extractions, with the option of transporting patients to Trinity when a patient's needs are more critical.
And the reach of the new clinic will go even further.
They plan to launch an extension of the clinic—a dental school that will train Liberians to become dental therapists who spread the Gospel to remote parts of the country by modelling Christ's love through dental outreaches.
Liberia's protracted civil war disrupted the education of many Liberians and caused professional educators to flee the country. Today, Liberians are in desperate need of good training, but they don't have many options.
The missionary dental school will build a strong foundation of Liberians committed to Christ and to rebuilding their country by staying in Liberia to pursue dental careers. Long after the missionaries are gone, Trinity will remain a Liberian-managed clinic.
The new Trinity Dental Clinic is opening at a critical time in Liberia's tumultuous history.
