Last month, our team packed up instruments, gloves, and portable dental equipment and headed to Mexico to work alongside Dental Care for Children. Over the course of the clinic, we saw a large number of kids. A good number of them had never sat in a dental chair before.
This is not a story about dentistry as a business. It is a story about what happens when a group of people with the right training show up in a place where that training is in short supply. We wanted to share it because it shapes how we practice back home in Salt Lake City.
Why Our Team Went
Our practice has been part of the Salt Lake City community for over a decade. In that time, the thing that has kept this work interesting is not the technology or the case complexity. It is the moment a patient stops guarding their mouth when they talk.
You get that moment far more often in a place where nobody has been able to see a dentist. So when the opportunity came up to join a volunteer clinic in Mexico, our team took it. We closed the gap in the schedule, covered our own travel, and went.
Dental Care for Children, the nonprofit that organizes the clinics, has been doing this work in Mexico for more than three decades. They handle the site, the community coordination, and the logistics. Volunteers like us bring the hands. You can read more about them at dentalcareforchildren.org.
What Our Team Did in the Clinic
A field clinic looks nothing like our office on 700 East. There is no plumbing at the chair and no ceiling-mounted light. Portable chairs and delivery units get set up in rows across a school hall, a sterilization station runs nonstop in the corner, and every provider works out in the open within arm’s reach of the next one.
Our team rotated through wherever the line was backing up:
- Screenings to find decay, infection, and problems still developing
- Cleanings and fluoride varnish for the children who mainly needed prevention
- Dental sealants on permanent molars already at high risk
- Fillings on teeth that could still be saved
- Extractions where a tooth was too far gone or was driving an active infection
- Oral hygiene instruction for the kids and, where we could, their parents
All of it at no cost to the families.
The pace is what pushes you. In Salt Lake City, we have a hygiene column, a treatment plan, and the option of bringing someone back in two weeks. In that clinic, we had one visit. Whatever needed to happen had to happen that day, which meant making calls quickly and making them well.
The extractions are the part that stays with you. When a child comes in with a tooth that has been abscessed for months, that is not elective dentistry. That is ending pain a kid had simply learned to live with, because nothing else was ever put in front of them.
Why Access to Children’s Dental Care Matters
The World Health Organization estimates that roughly 514 million children worldwide have untreated decay in their primary teeth, and its Global Oral Health Status Report points to the cost of access as one of the leading reasons oral disease stays so widespread.
Untreated decay in a child is not a cosmetic problem. It causes pain that interferes with eating, sleeping, and paying attention in school, and it can progress into infection that spreads well beyond the tooth. Because primary teeth hold space for the permanent teeth behind them, losing them early creates alignment problems that take years and real expense to correct.
Nearly all of it is preventable. The distance between “preventable” and “prevented” is what the whole trip was about.
What the Trip Changed About How We Practice in Salt Lake City
Three things came home with us, and our patients here will notice all three.
We talk about prevention differently now. After days spent removing teeth that a sealant and a fluoride treatment would have saved, a cleaning stops feeling routine. Our hygiene visits and pediatric dentistry appointments are the most effective dentistry we do, and we say so plainly instead of leaving it implied. If your child is due, get them in.
We slow down when someone is nervous. A child in an unfamiliar room full of strangers settles quickly once somebody kneels down and explains what is about to happen next. That works exactly the same way in our office as it did in that school hall, and it costs nothing but a minute.
Community Care Is Part of How We Practice
Volunteering abroad is not separate from the way we run this practice. It comes out of the same commitment: treat people the way you would want your own family treated, and do not let someone stay in pain because of what is on the schedule.
That is why we hold room for same-day emergencies, why we are open on Saturdays, and why we see kids and adults in the same practice so families are not driving to two offices. The trip is the most visible version of it. The everyday version happens here in Sugar House every week.
How You Can Help
If you want to support this work, donations and supplies go through Dental Care for Children directly. Toothbrushes, toothpaste, and floss travel well and get handed out by the hundreds. Clinics also need volunteers, clinical and otherwise.
If you would rather just hear about the trip in person, ask us at your next visit. We are always happy to talk about it.
Looking for a dentist in Salt Lake City who takes prevention seriously?
Salt Lake Dental has served Salt Lake City, Sugar House, Murray, West Valley City, and Bountiful for over a decade. We see patients Monday through Saturday, welcome same-day emergencies, and treat children and adults under one roof. Book online or get in touch to schedule a visit.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Salt Lake Dental treat children? Yes. We provide preventive and restorative care for kids alongside adults, including cleanings, fluoride, sealants, fillings, and extractions. Seeing the whole family in one practice makes scheduling easier and helps us catch developing problems early.
When should my child first see a dentist? General guidance is a first visit around the time the first tooth comes in, and no later than the first birthday. Early visits are short and mostly about getting your child comfortable and giving you a baseline. Waiting until something hurts is how small problems turn into big ones.
My child is anxious about the dentist. How do you handle that? We slow down and explain everything before it happens, which resolves most of it. For children who need more support, we can talk through options at the consultation. Let us know when you book so we can plan the appointment around it.
Are sealants and fluoride actually worth it? For a child at risk of decay, they are among the highest-value treatments in dentistry. Both are quick, neither requires drilling, and both work to prevent the fillings and extractions that would otherwise follow. Our trip was a week-long reminder of what happens without them.
Did the families in Mexico pay anything for treatment? No. Every screening, cleaning, filling, extraction, and fluoride treatment was provided at no cost. The clinics are funded by donations and staffed entirely by volunteers.
What kinds of treatment can be done in a portable clinic? More than most people expect. Portable units supply air, water, suction, and handpieces, which covers exams, cleanings, fluoride, sealants, fillings, and extractions. What a field clinic cannot do is lab-based work such as crowns and bridges, or treatment that needs several visits over weeks.
How was the clinic kept clean and safe? Instruments ran through a dedicated sterilization station operating throughout the day, using the same autoclave standards we follow in our Salt Lake City office. Our team worked in full personal protective equipment, and single-use items were used and disposed of exactly as they are here.
Will Salt Lake Dental do this again? That is the plan. Ask our front desk what the team is collecting ahead of the next clinic if you would like to contribute.
Can I still get an appointment if the team is traveling? Yes. We schedule these trips around patient coverage, and our office stays reachable. If you have an urgent problem, call us and we will get you seen.
