“Be true to your teeth and they won't be false to you.” ~Soupy Sales

Our teeth are often taken for granted, until there’s an ache, a cavity, or an infection. However, oral care is necessary, no matter the country. The World Health Organization reports that worldwide 60 to 90 percent of school children and almost 100 percent of adults have dental cavities which eat away at the teeth.

San Rafael is a beautiful mountain village in central Honduras. Fed by streams, its primary industry is coffee plantations. The people of San Rafael eat corn, rice and beans; they drink Coke, coffee, or the waters of descending mountain streams.

Good medical and dental care though are distant. Once a year, dentists come to the village to fix what teeth can be saved and educate patients about how to take care of their teeth.

Dr. Andrew Turke, a Palm City dentist, travels to San Rafael yearly to work in his field as a volunteer.

Dr Turke states, “San Rafael has a high rate of dental disease due to lack of dental care and education. Many children have lost their molars, whereas the adults have previously lost their molars and are in the process of losing their front teeth. Complete loss of natural teeth is a real danger; fewer foods can be consumed, leading to nutritional deficiency and bodily disease.”

Andrew Turke DMD is part of a dental mission team from Treasure Coast Community Church, TC3 in Jensen Beach. Traveling with him are fellow dentists: Dr. Jose Sarasola, Dr. Timothy Salib, Dr. Thomas Galinis. The team also includes dental assistant Andrea Turke, three other dental assistants, and dental hygienist Sonta Delabarrera.

In February 2017, the TC3 dental mission team went to San Rafael. Together with a Honduran dental mission team, a temporary dental clinic was set up in a church sanctuary. Using camping headlights over their foreheads, a pressure cooker for sterilization, and church translators—the two teams saw 715 adults. The teams restored holes in front teeth when possible with a resin composite material, pulling teeth, and filling remaining cavities.

During a previous trip in 2015, Dr. Turke’s team saw 320 children, extracting rotted molars, cleaning cavities and placing fillings.

The problem in San Rafael is three-fold.

First, there are no wells nor a treatment plant for clean water. Residents get sick from drinking mountain stream water from a two-foot wide ditch, resulting in sickness—gastro-intestinal problems, bacterial infections and even parasite infestations. Coke is cleaner to drink and is readily available at markets, but it is not good for the teeth.

Second, residents of San Rafael can afford little. They work as laborers on the coffee and sugar plantations beginning at about age 12 or 13. Houses outside the village are constructed from sticks, clay and sheet metal.

Third, no permanent dental clinic is in place.

Dr. Turke has a vision. He would like to fund a permanent dental clinic in San Rafael to provide continuing health care and education. To do this, a piece of property must be purchased and a dentist installed.

Why is this so necessary? When the teeth and gums are unclean, bacteria is invited into the body, setting people up for disease. Disease leads to death. Dr. Turke states that this is on his heart. “These people are good, hardworking people who need my help,” he adds.

Andrew Turke DMD is a native Floridian, born and raised in Plantation. He moved to Jensen Beach in 2009 and is a graduate of Nova Southeastern University. His local practice is Turke Advanced Dental Arts, in Palm City. Dr. Turke relates, “I became a dentist because I enjoy working with my hands on teeth and seeing the smile of a happy patient.” The smiles of those he has helped in San Rafael are priceless.

You can reach Dr. Turke at aturke@icloud.com or at 772-919-7444.

During World War II London became the center of the “lightning war,” or the Blitzkrieg. Germany’s Luftwaffe, the German Air Force, ran mass air attacks for air superiority over the United Kingdom, to draw out the Royal Air Force Fighter Command into a battle to the end and to cause the surrender of Great Britain.

Germany failed.

Across Britain, more than one million homes were hit and 40,000 civilians killed—half of them in London.

The British government decided to relocate to safety children of London and other urban centers, sending them into the countryside to small towns, villages, and hamlets until the end of the war. Under Operation Pied Piper, other children were even sent abroad to Canada, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand and the USA. A total of 3 million people were evacuated during the beginning of Operation Pied Piper.

Doris Edmunds was one of those children. At age eight, she arrived by train in a small village that had no electricity. Gas lights lit streets and a local town crier (the mayor), complete with a three-cornered hat, red coat and bell, regularly wrote war notes on a board for all to read about what was happening in mainland Europe.

Doris was greeted at the train station by “Uncle” Ted and “Aunt” Millie, who took her into their home. Other children also disembarked and were taken in to other residences. The evacuation location was not a good match for little Doris; local livestock and farms brought about a recurrence of her asthma.

Doris was sent back to her mother in London; she had remained in the capitol to work in a munitions facility putting together military aircraft radios in a store front converted by the government. Doris’ father was a member of the Royal Engineers. He flew gliders in behind enemy lines to make way for the Allies.

During this time, Doris lived through the bombing of London, called Total War by the Germans. At 11 years old, Doris went out to ride her neighbor’s bicycle. A rocket came down, hit a wall next to her, falling apart, it knocked her to the ground. Doris suffered a broken nose, a broken arm, and missing teeth.

Doris remembers the bombings—buzz bombs, small pilotless winged missiles; they could be heard coming from several miles away.

She also recalls V2 ballistic missiles (“V” for vengeance) primarily directed at London, against which there was no defense.

Doris and her mother lived across the Thames River in Streatham, greater London. Regularly, 6PM sirens would sound, requiring everyone in London to descend to a nearby shelter because German bombings often occurred at night. Doris’ shelter was concrete and built partially underground. It had bunks for sleeping. The children of three families would sit upon the steps leading out and watch searchlights scanning the sky for planes. If one was spotted, all lights would turn toward that plane and focus on it. Anti-aircraft guns shot incendiary shells. The military attempted to shoot down enemy aircraft outside London’s city limits preventing further civilian damage.

Blackout was strictly enforced. Doris recalls, “A local warden would pound on your door if any chinks of light showed through. Almost all fathers and older brothers went off to fight.”

Strict rationing of foods was typical in Britain. Each person had a ration book containing coupons. Doris received special allowances because of her poor health—three eggs a week instead of one.

Before the end of the war, Doris became very sick. A doctor came to the house and decided she needed to be taken to the hospital. Because there were no phones, the doctor himself left to go and bring an ambulance. Doris had developed pleurisy and pneumonia in both lungs. The British government sent her to a convent on the Isle of Wight to convalesce.

Run by Episcopal nuns, Doris first learned about Jesus there. She returned home after a year and two Christmases at the age of 13. The war was almost finished.

Evacuation of children was very traumatic because of the separation from their parents. In many cases, living through bombings was less traumatizing than evacuation. Doris Edmunds states, “For me, we made the bombings fun, making up games. War games. Boys were fighter pilots, girls were nurses.”

There was great celebration with VE Day, Victory in Europe, May 8, 1945. It’s been more than 70 years, but Doris recalls the happiness: enormous block parties, conga lines, bonfires, and the return home of her father.

In 1952, Doris met her first husband in London. An American Army serviceman, he brought her to the United States. The week of her departure from London, Queen Elizabeth was crowned. Doris saw the coronation parade from her workplace in the capitol. She has made the United States her home since 1953 and at 86 years old is a great grandmother. Doris Edmunds resides in Port St. Lucie.

Hometown Heroes