Thursday, April 30, 2009

OPG


A prominent need was filled at Tenwek Dental Clinic this past month thanks to many of your generous donations.  People had prayed for many years for an OPG x-ray machine.  God has provided.
      After being in contact with the Massachusetts  Dental Society Dr. Kuyaya found that an Orthopantomograph OP-100 was available for donation by Dr. Miller.  
      What is a panoramic x-ray?  You may have had this x-ray taken before you had your 3rd molars removed.  An OPG or panoramic x-ray (see picture) gives us exactly that; a panoramic snapshot of the the entire oral region.  It is crucial x-ray for diagnosing jaw fractures, finding oral hard tissue malignancies, and locating 3rd molars.  Our treatment at Tenwek is probably upwards of 50% oral surgical procedures.  An OPG is standard in an OMFS office.  
      Tenwek Hospital and this region of Kenya has never had such a machine.  They are costly (20,000 USD).  Dr. Miller graciously donated this machine free of charge, with one catch--shipping!
     As you can see shipping a machine about the size of a telephone booth is not an easy endeavor.  After discussions with Northwest Airlines, World Gospel Mission, Samaritan's Purse, Dr. Miller, and volunteers with the Massachusetts Dental Society we discovered that the machine could be dismantled, crated, and air-freighted for 1100 USD. 
      It was fantastic.    With the help of WGM it cleared customs at Kenyatta National Airport with no further charges as it was marked as a donated item for a Christian Mission Hospital.  The machine as the picture shows arrived by Lori in great condition and careful lifting.  It was soon mounted, installed, electrically converted to Kenyan voltage, and is now in use.  We are using this machine 20 times over per week.  We feel like we are no longer working in the dark.  We also hope it will allow Tenwek Dental to become even more of a referral center.
      Thanks so much for your donations.  Your financial and prayer support is changing the way we do things here in Kenya.  --the Dental Staff @ Tenwek

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh what a blessing!!!! It is wonderful to see an answer to many of our prayers for "any equipment needed" to be supplied by our Supplier.

I can't help it, please don't take this wrong. God has always blessed me with kind of an edgy sense of humor that has gotten me into trouble more than once. For the chuckle factor and with no judgement I have to ask - was "Lori" driving the "lorry" or..........?

I love you one and all,
Kathy
Bend, OR

Anonymous said...

Good news that you were able to get the machine installed and working! Tt sounds like it is getting a great workout. Love, Mom

Megan N said...

This is an amazing story of God's faithfulness. I can hardly believe you can ship a telephone booth sized machine for $1100 and it got there all safe and sound. Wow! Now you have some necessary technology to use.