In May 2009, Dr. Estrabillo and 6 other colleagues joined St. Margaret Mary Parish to volunteer their time and skills for a very remote mountainous area in Haiti. After five hours of trekking across 10 mountains by foot, motorcycle and mule, the team reached St. Gabriel Parish, Beau Séjour, Haiti. Exhausted, sore, but high in spirits the team went into full swing next day treating the villagers.

For many of the villagers, Dr. Estrabillo is the first dentist they have ever seen. The villagers came as early as 4 am, travelling for 2 hours with hopes of being seen and treated. At 7:30 am, when the clinic started, hundreds of people were already lined up. The dental clinic was simple, made of bare concrete with no dental equipment, no suctions, no hand pieces. The supplies that the team brought were the only supplies available.

The team was especially grateful for the NOMAD x-ray. Radiographs were taken on every client. Most had full mouth series of x-rays, due to severe decay and clinical infection. The presence of the radiographs provided accurate diagnosis and proper treatment. Even though our only treatment of choice was extractions, it gave visualization to Dr. Estrabillo for many difficult situations.

The NOMAD equipment was so vital to every case that we treated whether the cases involved simple, difficult, complicated, erupted, impacted, primary, or permanent teeth. We also would not have been able to treat the many villagers we saw in such a short period of time. The NOMAD gave us the perfect road map to so many bleak situations that would have presented to us blindly.

Ada Naguit

Ada is a Restorative Dental Hygienist with the Estrabillo Dental Group in Ancaster and is also a parishioner of St. Margaret Mary's Parish.

(Global Smile International is a non-profitable organization founded in 2006 by Dr. Rolando Estrabillo. Global Smile provides free basic and emergency dentistry for the Hamilton, Ontario community. Its vision is to expand this service globally to the developing countries.)