Through out the two-week mission trip in May 2014, the dental clinic was one of the most popular services, with lines going out the door on multiple occasions. Medical students from Baylor rotated through the clinic and worked one on one with Dr Jolly Johnson to assist him and to learn basic dental procedures. Medical student Emma Carroll reflects on her experience working with Dr Johnson:
“Dr. Johnson was a great teacher and he really took the time to teach me and to explain the procedures as he was going. It was the only exposure to dental care that I got through out all of medical school! Dr Johnson even taught me how to per-form nerve blocks. One patient in particular sticks out in my memory. She was a young, seventeen or sixteen-year-old girl. When we first saw her in clinic she was shy, covering her mouth when she talked and smiled. When we examined her, we found she had two large cavities in her two front teeth. There was a large hole right in the front of her mouth. Dr. Jolly went to work filling the cavities using white epoxy. He really took his time to make the color match and to hide the cavity, and by the time he was finished you could barely see where the hole once was. When we used a mirror to show the girl her new teeth, she broke out into a huge smile, no longer self conscious of her teeth. She was beautiful. I think we really made a difference in the young girl’s self confidence and image, which are very important during teenage years. Who knows what she will be empowered to accomplish. “