Saving a Life

by Dr. Charles Rabemahefa, Chief of DCMC Dental Clinic

A young 37-year-old man came to see us for a dental infection. His wisdom tooth on the lower left side was infected, according to his report, for one month. He went to see a dispensary in town and was prescribed pain killers and antibiotics.  The infection became chronic. The pus spread into the space under the tongue and he started to have difficulty breathing and eating.

When he came to DCMC Dental Clinic, he was already tired and he hadn’t eaten for three days. During the examination we found that he could not open his mouth. We had to make an incision to drain the pus and then admit him to the health center under I.V. drip with necessary medication.

Four days later, Dr. Mdoe and I re-examined him when he could open his mouth. The examination showed 8 teeth (3 molars, 2 pre-molars, 1 canine, and 2 incisors) were mobile because the bone was necrotic. We extracted his 8 mobile teeth and took out the necrotic bone. He stayed at the RCH 2 weeks to recover completely.

When he started to talk he told us that he was a guard, had 5 kids and was married. No one came to look after him after the surgery. Loreen Mdoe and Irma Rabemahefa took care of him by giving him food free of charge during his stay at the hospital, and when we decided to discharge him he said he had nothing to pay because even he couldn’t get from his boss the monthly salary. We charged all the remaining costs to the CSF (Community Support Fund). We needed to create this fund really to sustain the services and help the poor.

After almost 3 weeks here at RCH he recovered nicely and we thank God to save his life by using DCMC facilities.