The extraordinary experience of an Italian dentist

Peace Times 13

by Cristina Pinnavaia

This summer, as I was going to Nepal for the second time with my friend hygienist Pamela Pintus, I thought of the extraordinary experience of the previous year, which surely could not easily be repeated: I was mistaken as this year’s adventure revealed itself even more exceptional.

The Himalayan Healing Centre clinic is fast becoming a second home for those voluntary doctors who offer their services: I met another dentist Pierre Angelo Bertelli who had himself already spent a month there in 1997, as well as a Spanish homeopath Luis Rodriguez Mori, who had come to the centre for the fifth time; as we arrived our friend and colleague Andrea Guazzoni, who had caught the «volunteer bug» from me had just left.

The dental clinic is equipped with every kind of instrumentation and working materials: mirrors, drills of all types, extractors, pliars, levers, root canal instruments, amalgam, composites, cements, etc. The only problem I encountered was a malfunctioning x-ray machine which hopefully will be fixed in the next month.

Indira and Kyizom are the two assistants, invaluable for the good work of the dentists, who also have the task of simultaneous translators. Kyizom who speaks fluent Tibetan helped us cope with an increasing number of Tibetan patients.

A further development in 1999 has been the setting up of a new and superbly equipped laboratory where the young Phutsung makes dentures, presently concentrating on partial dentures and bridges: local adult and older peoples’ teeth do not as yet suffer the effects of the lastest imported western diet and therefore they hardly ever need full dentures. One of the main problems rising in Nepal as far as dentistry is concerned - as in all third world countries coming into contact with westernisation - is that of the increased spreading of tooth decay among children. The consumption of sugar, once a luxury item, inevitably has brought with it an increase in dental problems in the younger population which would require preventive intervention before treatment becomes necessary.

Already last year, we went to the school within the Himalayan Healing Centre compound, where we taught children dental hygiene: such simple instructions should be regularly repeated, and therefore an ideal solution would be to first and foremost educate both the parents and the teachers. Aside from the strictly professional considerations, the human experience in the clinic and daily life in the community are extraordinarily unique, and luckily repeatable every year: last summer they asked me if I would come back, and I told them “probably”. This year, in answer to their same question, I told them “of course, I will be back in December 2000”.