BELLEVUE DENTIST HELPING LATIN AMERICA DENTISTRY

BELLEVUE DENTIST HELPING DENTIST IN LATIN AMERICAN

Bellevue Dentist, Patricia Pauley DDS, has a brother who is a dentist. Dr Thomas Potts DDS, PhD, is a Buffalo, NY, area dentist who has been running a free Clinic, two to three months each year, for 28 years in Chiapas, Mexico. The dentistry in this free clinic is available to all residents of the Chiapas Area. Dr Tom is fluent in Spanish and also speaks Mayan which is the other language spoken in that area, primarily by the women. When he first went to Mexico, his initial work consisted almost exclusively of extracting teeth, even on the young people. However, after many years, his goal to educate the people about dental hygiene and care to improve their overall health and lives is working, as now he does considerably fewer extractions and can focus on the restorative needs of the people. For mainly years, Bellevue Dentist, Dr Patricia Pauley, has sent dental supplies and money to her brother to assist him with his goal of helping the people of Chiapas.

The Seattle Vocational Institute, Dental Assisting School, of which Dr Gil Pauley is the Advisory Committee Chair Person, recently sent Dr Thomas Potts a number of different supplies and equipment, which were no longer being used by SVI. Dr Tom does his work through the Latin American Solidarity Committee, which is a task force under the aegis of the Western New York Peace Center, a charitable organization. Dr Tom is starting a new free dental clinic in El Sauce, Nicaragua. He recently wrote a letter to Dr Pollene Speed DDS, Director of the SVI Clinic and Peggy Camden, CDA at SVI, thanking them for their dental materials and equipment contribution saying,

“We would like to express our profound gratitude for this wonderful contribution to the health and well being of our friends in Latin America. These dental supplies will be shipped this fall by Pastors for Peace to El Sauce, Nicaragua, and put to use in a dental clinic there, which services the rural poor.”

In our Brookside Dental Blog, we recently discussed the Seattle Vocational Institute Dental Clinic Annual Fund Raiser for the Dental Assistant Program, which trains minority students for good paying positions in the dental field. What a logical synergistic relationship for SVI to help out the poor of Latin America. What a great job that Dr Tom is doing and we are really pleased to be able to assist him in his efforts to bring dental care to these people.