As we are all adjusting to our new normal, our amazing team has jumped right back into the office and made our work family even stronger! 

Theo is getting us all in the holiday spirit!

The International College of Dentists USA Section presented Dr. Gradwell with a membership as a Fellow for conspicuous service rendered in the art and science of Dentistry.

The International College of Dentists (ICD) is the pre-eminent honorary organization of the world’s outstanding dentists involved in “Serving Others”.  The ICD is dedicated to the recognition of outstanding professional achievement, meritorious service and the continued progress in the profession of dentistry for the benefit of all humankind.

Dr. Gradwell exemplifies the core values of integrity, leadership, and service and was inducted as a Fellow of the International College of Dentists at its 85th Annual Convocation in San Francisco, California this past weekend.

Dr. Gradwell and his family are home safe from the medical/dental mission trip to Malawi, Africa.  He started the portable dental clinic 4 years ago and it has grown to 3 chairs and 2 working dental units. The units run by a generator purchased by Dr. Gradwell in 2018.   A far cry from the plastic patio chair and a headlamp when he first went.

Dr. Gradwell saw 283 patients in the Kalina Clinic in Zomba providence in Malawi.  He has a passion for outreach and is blessed to be on this team.  Villages in Partnership is the non-profit organization that sponsors the medical team.  This year we saw 5,502 patients in total.  God has worked through each person on the team to achieve such a wonderful goal.

One of the patients was a 97-year-old woman that they treated in the back of a land cruiser because she was too weak to enter the clinic area.  She required an extraction of a severely infected tooth and given antibiotics. (Picture below)

They did village home visits where locals were given blankets and clothing.  Dr. Gradwell’s son, Sean was especially moved by this as seen in one of the photos below.

Another photo below is of Dr. Gradwell cleaning one of the dental therapist’s teeth.  Titus is a dental therapist who works for the Malawian government.  On these mission trips, Titus, works VIP and volunteers his time to help treat the needs of the dental patients in the village.

Fortunately, right now it is winter in Africa so the temps hovered in the 70’s.  It was a perfect temperature to work and helped keep us all busy during our daily clinics.

Dr. Gradwell left this past Sunday for another medical mission trip to Malawi, Africa. Please keep him and his team in your prayers. We have been in limited contact with him, below is our latest update from him that he wanted us to share with all of you!
We, meaning myself and two talented Malawian dentists, saw 96 patients in the dental clinic today. 96! And I am confident the next few days the numbers will be even higher and that’s because access to care and dental supplies is so limited here. The government dental clinics have not had any lidocaine for the past three months so they have not been able to perform any extractions. Can you imagine having to wait for months to have a painful, decaying tooth extracted? With poor access to care, extractions are the most frequent and required treatment option for the villagers and care in these remote villages is done without electricity or running water. With the commitment of our Malawian partners and with support from my colleagues in the US we are trying to shift that paradigm. Each year that I have returned to this community we have brought additional materials and equipment to support more treatment options. In 2014, we were only able to provide extractions and we did so with patients sitting in two plastic lawn chairs. Today we have three Asceptico dental chairs a generator and portable dental handpieces. This year we added a portable cavitron machine which will allow us the ability to clean teeth and treat periodontal disease. We also brought restorative materials for doing dental fillings, meaning we can repair teeth instead of extracting them. All of this equipment is used during monthly dental clinics run by VIP (Villages in Partnership). It’s exciting and invigorating to impact such critical needs and to do so in a great partnership with my Malawian dental colleagues. It’s time for bed now because hundreds will be waiting tomorrow. 2nd update: 90 patients were seen today!

This past weekend, Dr. Gradwell and Dr. Freedman volunteered their time working at MOM-n-PA dental mission at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Scranton, PA where they ran Radiology!
Over 1,600 people treated in two days by over 200 dentists and 1,000 lay volunteers.
Next year it will be in Philadelphia!