click on photos for a larger image

Dr. Jim Carney with Lenny, a Jamaican farmer

The Marvis Bank medical-dental clinic

Will trying out a portable dental chair

Kelly loosening a tooth under Dr. Carney's supervision

Tony and Josh preparing to extract

Jessica suturing up a patient with Katie's assistance

The staff lounge

Devotions: What is the greatest commandment?

We have all at various times in our lives wondered what it is that God requires of us. There are lots of different opinions that exist. Fortunately, we have the ultimate answer from the most credible witness of all time, Jesus, as follows:

Matthew 22:34-40 - “But when the Pharisees heard that He had put the Sadducees to silence, they gathered themselves together. And one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And He said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.”

Jesus’ words should not have been new to his audience, as he was quoting heavily from Deuteronomy 6:4-7, a passage with which they would have been very familiar. He references two commandments, those of loving God and loving one’s neighbor. This is a succinct summary of the 10 commandments found in Exodus 20, since the first four commandments refer to how we are to love God, while the last six relate to our calling to love our neighbor.

The Ten Commandments comprise the greatest moral code ever developed by any civilization in all of history. Even those who do not recognize the divine authorship of the Bible would have to admit that the greatest cultures which have ever existed on the face of the earth are those built upon the timeless foundation of these commandments. Their benefit extends even to non-Christians, who can benefit (at least in a temporal sense) by lives that are lived as closely as possible in accord with these commands. When they are obeyed, the result is that people, families, and nations are blessed. When they are disregarded, those who do so suffer the consequences.

Tomorrow: The relationship between the two greatest commandments, Loving God and Loving Man

The 10-minute walk from the Mavis Bank hotel to the clinic took us right through the heart of Mavis Bank. Many of the residents we passed would greet us by waving and smiling, and it felt good to know our presence was appreciated. Dr. Jim Carney has become quite a celebrity with the Jamaicans over the years, and the credibility he has earned carries over to each new team that serves in Mavis Bank. It’s almost as if he’s visiting relatives as he greets people in town and exchanges pleasantries. You can just see their delight when Jim remembers them and shows a personal interest in them. Jesus’ words come immediately to mind: “They’ll know you are Christians by your love for one another.”

When we arrived at the clinic Monday morning there were already a large number of patients waiting for treatment. The medical-dental clinic was only able to offer dental treatment when an American dentist was in town, which had only occurred twice since our last trip a year prior. The patients would register with the receptionists when they arrived, then a slip of paper for each patient would be given to our treatment coordinator, my son Will. We had between six and eight chairs available for treatment at any one time, only three of which had the necessary equipment to do fillings. Whenever there was an empty chair available, Will would assign the next patient to the appropriate chair for the treatment needed, and the dental students or dentists would take over from there.

As expected, a large majority of the treatment needed was extractions. Two people were assigned to each chair, and less experienced students were paired up with those with more experienced. I was working with a second-year student, and our first patient wanted six teeth removed, three on each side of her mouth. Because of the long line of patients needing treatment, I offered to take out three today, then perhaps three another day. The patient consented, and I anesthetized her upper left quadrant. As she was getting numbed, she told me how far she had come to be there that day, and she reiterated her desire to have all six of her offending teeth removed if possible. I told her that if the first three came out well, we would then go for the final three. Sure enough, the first three teeth slipped out rapidly, so we anesthetized and started on the other three. After the first two came out, I gave the forceps to my second-year student for the last one. It was loosening nicely, then we heard a crack, indicating that the root had broken. It took some minor surgery to get the root out, and the student was a bit disappointed. Since I had broken my fair share of root tips over the years, I was in no position to think less of him because of it.

next day Tuesday

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