Dental Students Join Brigade

Three adventurous students, Alana Gilgurd DMD 12, Nicholas Bacos DMD 12, and Sarah Courtney DMD 12, signed on with the BU chapter of Global Brigades to travel to Honduras from January 10 to 16. A playlist of video clips from their trip, narrated by Bacos, is available on GSDM’s YouTube channel.

Global Brigades is the world’s largest student-led global health and sustainable development organization. Since 2004, Global Brigades has mobilized thousands of university students and professionals to improve quality of life in under-resourced communities. This was the first time that BU dental students have participated in a brigade.

Along with a large contingent of BU undergrad student volunteers, two Honduran dentists, and former GSDM faculty member and supervising dentist Dr. Nelson Pan, the group spent four days providing outreach. The outreach took place in an open-air school, with no running water or electricity, in the rural community of El Perico in El Triunfo. The student dentists treated between 40 and 50 patients each, mainly performing extractions and composite fillings. While they were busy treating patients, the undergrads provided preventative education to local children, manned the (computerized) front desk, collected patient data, and helped keep the supplies ready for use. Also on the trip were physicians, nurses, and pharmacists, who provided other medical services to the residents of El Perico.

The trio found the trip to be an excellent learning experience. Said Courtney, “This trip provided great exposure and experience with treatments, extractions, and restorations.”

Gilgurd added, “It was really nice to get the one-on-one instruction from Dr. Pan on some of the more difficult extractions. I am much more confident in my oral surgery skills after this experience.”

All three agreed this trip sparked their interest in dental missions and they would definitely sign up for others in the future.

Photos are available on facebook and flickr.