Inspired By First Trip, Katy Bednar DMD 12 Returns to Guatemala

Katy Bednar DMD 12 enjoyed her mission trip with Dentistry for All (DFA) to Comitancillo, Guatemala last Fall so much that she returned to Guatemala—this time El Remate—with DFA in March. Bednar traveled with DFA March 8 through the 19, which was the third week of a five-week Spring DFA mission trip. Her group consisted of 18 volunteers including DFA Co-Director and GSDM alum Brad Krusky DMD 97. The group treated both children and adults in a full-range of procedures.

Bednar cannot say enough positive things about DFA and her experience. She explains, “You never really know how hard you can work until you put yourself in these situations. But it’s worth it. You see things on these trips that you’d never see at home and you have to figure out a treatment plan; you have to think on your toes.”

She gave one example from her most recent trip, “A patient came in with a six-unit anterior gold bridge that was ‘pressed-onto’ the existing teeth, and through one of the windows cut out from the gold, I could see a root tip. He also had an abscess in need of care. In Guatemala these ‘press-on’ gold bridges are a status symbol, but people don’t understand how bad they are for their teeth. I had to remove it, treat the disease, and then splint the bridge back on from canine to canine so he would have front teeth.”

It’s crazy scenarios like this that students say make them more skilled and confident treating patients once they return home. And despite the long hours, hard work, and often rural conditions many of them, like Bednar, can’t wait to return. GSDM alum Stephanie Trahan DMD 11 is another example. Trahan traveled with DFA to Antigua and El Remate, Guatemala in Spring 2011. This year she used her vacation time from her post-doctoral residency program to volunteer again and participated in the first week of the DFA’s 2012 effort.

Photos from Bednar’s trip are available on facebook and flickr. To learn more about International Externship opportunities attend the Lunch and Learn on April 6, from 12 to 1 p.m., in room G-301.