Twice a year, teams of dental and medical professionals and other volunteers are formed to travel to Central America to participate in “Smiles for Central America” expeditions. The teams go by the name of ‘Brigada’ which translates as Brigade. The term owes to the large number of medical professionals that travel together. The primary focus of the group is to provide dental and medical services for young men and women in Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Panama, and Nicaragua to help prepare them to serve full-time LDS missions.
Another important part of their mission is to provide community service. “Our desire is to provide hope, love, and support for our neighbors in Central America, and our expeditions include a variety of community service projects for orphanages, children’s cancer hospitals, maternity hospitals, a dental school, and families in need.” According to the organization’s website.
Dr. Jack Feller of Feller Orthodontics has been participating in the program for several years and recently joined the Brigada that headed to San Pedro Sula in Honduras last November.
San Pedro Sula is considered to be the the murder capital of the world, reportedly even surpassing the ongoing carnage in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. The potential for violence meant that the team was watched by armed guards.
Dr. Feller explained that the Brigada consists of around 140 medical professionals who all pay their own travel costs.
Many of the patients that Dr. Feller and the other members of the Brigada treat often require multiple dental procedures that are performed in a short period of time.
One of the problems Dr. Feller helped several patients with is missing front teeth that have been decayed down to the gum line by chewing sugar cane.
His eyes lit up while talking about one patient in particular who had five or six extractions, three root-canals, wisdom teeth and un-restorable roots removed. Dr. Feller explained that he fashioned a ‘flipper’ appliance to fill the hole in the patients smile. “That little gal looked in the mirror after the procedure and smiled. She said that was the first time she had smiled in three years,” Dr. Feller said.
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Where have Smiles For Central America Volunteers Worked?
Dr. Jack Feller
Board-Certified: American Board of Orthodontics
MS and Orthodontic Residency: Loyola University School of Dentistry, Maywood, IL
DDS: Northwestern University Dental School, Chicago, IL
BS: Medical Biology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT
Member: American Association of Orthodontists, American Dental Association, Salt Lake District Dental Societ, Southwest Wyoming District Dental Society.
“Early in my college career, I had the opportunity to visit the orthodontic office of my wife’s uncle and I was absolutely astounded to see the before-and-after photos of his patients. Even in a static image, you could see the confidence and self-esteem that resulted from the beautiful smiles he created. I decided then and there that I wanted to have that kind of impact on patients by helping them have breathtaking smiles I want my patients to have a place they look forward to visiting – an environment where they feel safe, comfortable, supported and loved – a place patients hesitate to leave because they face a harsher world outside our offices. Our patients know that we genuinely care about them because we show them every day.”
Dr. Jack Feller
