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GreenScene blog is all about being green--tips on helping animals, saving water, recycling stuff, re-using things in new ways, and conserving energy. It's all about what you can do and what other people are doing to take care of the planet.

Thursday, July 22, 2010
luke

Dental Team in Madagascar

Photo: Dentist working on a patientThe dental team has finished their work in Madagascar now, and we were lucky enough to have them with us in Ambodimanga (the village where our camp is in Ankarafantsika National Park) for 2.5 days. They were in Madagascar for almost 3 weeks total at different sites. While they were staying with us, the dentists treated more than 125 local people and pulled 500+ teeth free of charge during that time!

Sponsored by The Ankizy Fund (an organization founded by paleontologist, friend, and National Geographic grantee Dr. David Krause), this team of dentists and dental students from North America comes to Madagascar and our site almost every year. While they were here, they converted our meeting area, called "the refectoire" into a makeshift clinic where they could treat up to 8 people at a time.

Photo: Dental team members with toolsAs there is no regular dental care in rural Madagascar, some of the people that walked to our site for treatment traveled more than 40 km (almost 30 miles!) on foot! What's the farthest you've ever walked to meet someone or get something? How does this dental clinic "in the field" look different than your dentist's office?

It might not be immediately obvious, this humanitarian dental work also can contribute to and promote conservation of the natural resources, forests, and wildlife in Madagascar. Can you think of maybe why?

Enjoy the pictures!

4 Comments

Its great that people go out to help people in places like Madagascar

im so happy for madagascar YAY lol peace out

Wow!It sounds strange!So,is it the first dental clinic in Madagascar?

this is wonderful

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