MEDIA ADVISORY
May 20, 2010

WHO: Physicians for Peace Volunteer Dental Team
WHAT: The Nicaragua Dental team to explore creation of first Dental Hygiene program in Latin
America
WHERE: Léon, Nicaragua
WHEN: May 21, 2010
WHY: The Nicaragua dental team returned with optimistic news about the prospects for
creating the first Dental Hygiene program in Latin America as a result of their recent twoweek
dental mission to Léon. Physicians for Peace would partner with Old Dominion
University, Universidad Autonoma de Nicaragua and team leaders Drs. Sachs and
Weinstein to create and implement the pilot program.

“When we first went to Nicaragua in 2002, the dentists saw me handing instruments to
Dr. Sachs without exchanging any words. They couldn’t figure out who I was and were
amazed how we worked so efficiently together,” said Brenda Raymo, dental assistant to Dr.
Sachs.

The Nicaraguan dentists recognized the effectiveness with which they could provide
care with dental assistants in the office and immediately set forth into motion a dental
assistant program plan. In response to their request, Sandra Mueller wrote a dental assistant
curriculum for the dental school at the Universidad Autónoma Nacional in Léon, Nicaragua
to train assistants who would then be able to train future assistants. The programs began in
2005 and graduated one class of dental assistants.

The Physicians for Peace Dental Program began in 1996 with a dental mission led by
Dr. Warren Sachs to Guatemala. Fourteen years later, the organization has sent multiple
dental missions to Guatemala, as well as the Dominican Republic, the Philippines, Peru,
Vietnam and Nicaragua. Over the past 15 years Physicians have treated countless patients
with severely limited access to dental care for Peace missions. More importantly, incountry
dental professionals have received valuable education and training. Dr. Warren
Sachs has unofficially taken the lead as the Physicians for Peace dental mission volunteer,
guiding most of the missions and always keeping the greater picture in mind. As the
program has developed, its focus has become more refined.

The objectives of the March 2010 mission were to follow up with the dental assistant
program, identify potential opportunities for a new dental hygiene program and to provide
hands-on dental training for the dental students. The dental team consisted of: Dr. Warren
Sachs, Dr. Lee Weinstein, Brenda Raymo (dental assistant), Bailey McBride (dental
assistant), Dr. Ramon Lopez (Physicians for Peace Director of the Americas), Gayle
McCombs (Associate Professor and Director at Old Dominion University, College of
Health Sciences, School of Dental Hygiene), and Kendra Kleppe (dental hygienist). The
team focused on dental education during this mission, allowing the dental students to have
hands-on learning opportunities. This means that they served fewer patients (perhaps 300-
400 instead of the thousand that might have been served), but that the dental students
gained a much greater level of understanding.

The dental school’s new dean met them with much excitement about partnership
opportunities; the previously trained dental assistants were clamoring for additional training
and energized by the initiative to begin a dental hygienist program; the dental school had
recently received donations of new dental equipment, which made their facility an excellent
training ground.

The already existing Physicians for Peace partnership with the ODU College of Health
Sciences Physical Therapy team can be used as a model from which to build a new
partnership with the dental school. All involved are very excited about the potential for a
great partnership between ODU, Physicians for Peace, and the University of Leon.

ABOUT PHYSICIANS FOR PEACE
Physicians for Peace is an international organization that mobilizes volunteer healthcare
educators to assist developing nations with unmet medical needs and scarce resources.
Through effective, hands-on medical education and training, clinical care and donated
medical supplies, Physicians for Peace creates long-term, sustainable, replicable, and
evidence-based projects to help partner nations build medical capability and capacity to
help themselves. Volunteers for the 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization have conducted
medical missions in more than 50 countries. For six consecutive years, Physicians for
Peace has been listed as a four-star rating awarded by Charity Navigator, America's largest
independent evaluator of charities. More information is available at
www.physiciansforpeace.org.
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