All it took was one pink toothbrush to make his day.
On a recent service trip to Hinche, Haiti, James Jenkins, D.D.S., saw hundreds of men, women and children in desperate need of dental care. He handed out toys, toothpaste and toothbrushes. He worked for hours on end, in a make-shift dental office at a Catholic mission.
But it was on a ride into the mountains to check out a natural spring that brought his greatest joy.
“We had given out a thousand toothbrushes the day before and as we were driving to the spring we pass by this small shack. Standing outside of his home was an 11-year-old boy who was brushing his teeth with this bright pink toothbrush we had given him,” said the assistant professor of adult restorative dentistry at the UNMC College of Dentistry. “Everyone on the bus cheered.”
It’s moments like those that make the numerous service trips and clinics Dr. Jenkins has taken part in worthwhile.
The Haiti clinic was arranged through a friend’s church in Lincoln. Although the trip was planned before the Jan. 12 earthquake that devastated Haiti, Dr. Jenkins said several of the nearly 700 patients he saw in Hinche were earthquake refugees.
He also has done plenty of volunteer work in the state of Nebraska.
As president and as a member of the Nebraska Dental Association, Dr. Jenkins has helped coordinate five Nebraska Mission of Mercy (MOM) dental clinics in the state since he helped found it in 2005.
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James Jenkins, D.D.S., left, and dental student Tom Alexander, second from right, work on a patient in Hinche, Haiti, as a local assistant looks on. Dr. Jenkins regularly goes on mission trips to provided volunteer dental care. |
“Nebraska dentists have donated millions of dollars of dental care to help out needy people,” Dr. Jenkins said.
Dentistry combines two of Dr. Jenkins’ passions, working with his hands and helping people. His grandfather was a dentist who taught and practiced in Omaha and influenced his decision to go into a health profession.
“Dentistry was the perfect fit for me,” he said.