(taken from the Tufts University School of Dental Medicine 2006 archives (original transcript))

In 2006, Dr.Aidee Herman, associate clinical professor of periodontology, led her second humanitarian mission to Ecuador August 20-29, in partnership with the Massachusetts Hispanic Dental Association (MHDA) and Tufts University School of Dental Medicine. Accompanying Herman were Gerard Kugel, associate dean for research; Melvin Miller, assistant professor of general dentistry; and Susana Ferreira, assistant professor of prosthodontics and operative dentistry.

Aurora Alva, Justin Griffee, Jasmin Henville, Renee Osofsky, Katerina Pellino, Jeff Segnere and Jeffrey Stathis, all members of the Class of 2007, also participated as did Hamid Esbah, D92, an oral and maxillofacial surgeon in Lowell, Mass.

The team spent three days providing dental care to 375 patients; they performed 410 procedures. Treatment included oral health instruction, prophylaxis, fluoride treatments, extractions, simple and complex restorations and pulpotomies. In addition, Esbah spent more than 10 hours successfully treating a 13-year-old girl who suffered from Treacher Collins Syndrome, a genetic, craniofacial birth defect characterized by a range of distinctive facial anomalies.

The team’s last day of providing dental care was cancelled due to the eruption of Volcano Tungurahua in the town of Ibarra.