Forest Park Dental, located in Glendale, was honored to take part in a dental humanitarian mission to help the people of Barahona, Dominican Republic. This mission lasted four days and took place on July 16 – July 19, 2009.
Dr. Walter Sabolboro was one of four dentists who worked early morning to late night to restore the oral health needs of the Barahona community. He was accompanied by his wife, Linda, who assisted the dentists with procedures.
Sabolboro spent the first three days performing oral surgery in a local jail while his wife Linda assisted the other doctors in a mobile van stationed outside a local church. In the evenings, Sabolboro returned to church grounds to perform restorative and preventive dentistry on the locals.
An estimated total of 600 patients were seen who ranged in ages 3 to 85. Of the many touching stories that were experienced during this mission, a 15-year-old girl with a front tooth too badly decayed to be saved was told that an extraction was needed to avoid infection. The young girl refused to have this tooth removed and would have rather lived with a horribly decayed tooth rather than no tooth at all. Restorative materials donated by Patterson Dental Supply Co. made it possible to extract the decayed tooth and bond on a new prosthetic tooth for this young girl.
Not only did Dr. Sabolboro extract the tooth to get this young girl out of pain, but he also performed cosmetic dentistry to restore her self-esteem and allow a young her to smile again.
This was Sabolboro’s first humanitarian trip abroad, and he looks forward to serving the oral health needs of the global community again very soon.
Barahona is a poor community and it is located about 30 minutes from the border of Haiti. Due to its proximity to the Haitian border, it is currently being used as a key staging area to aid in the relief efforts due to the devastating earthquake.
Forest Park Dental is located at 80-15 Myrtle Ave. For more information, call them at (718) 821.4680 or visit them on the web at forestparkdental.com.
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