Giving Through Smiles Foundation Brings Dentures to Chile
Posted Oct 15, 2013 in Industry News
From l. to r.: Dr. Charles Lennon, Vinnie Verderosa and Dr. Jonathan Zamzok work around the clinic's lab table making dentures.
In January, Vinnie Verderosa, CDT, MDT, Stony Brook University School of Dental Medicine, spent nine days working with the Giving Through Smiles Foundation in Neltume, Chile, a remote logging village in the foothills of the Andes Mountains. He was the only technician in a 10-person team from New York, including prosthodontists and dentists. They joined forces with dentists and dental students from a university in Chile to fabricate 50 dentures and treat 150 children with rampant tooth decay.
A clinic was set up in the lunchroom of a school, along with two rooms for denture work. The volunteers brought materials with them from the U.S., including teeth and articulators donated by Ivoclar Vivadent. The equipment was provided by the Chilean dental school and was very limited, with some of the patients treated on school desks that substituted for dental chairs.
Dentists and students from the university met with patients ahead of time to perform exams and schedule appointments,...
