Local dental intern makes difference overseas

she’ll never forget.

Sara came in on the very first day of Blore’s one-month internship.

“She was in pain around the neck area and I was wondering, ok—what’s this case, and they told me it was Ludwig’s angina, which is a life-threatening cellulitis of the soft tissue that involves the mouth and neck area … this necrotizing fasciitis, which is a flesheating bacteria, spread through her neck and then over to her shoulder/collar-bone area,” said Blore.

be there every day for the painful procedure.

“I had never heard pain or screams or just ‘why me God’ –she kept saying it, and I was just like feeling sick the entire time. She was holding my hand and I was just rubbing it,” she recalled.

A Lloydminster woman has had the experience of a lifetime to preface her career in the dental field.

Madison Blore, who graduated from Holy Rosary High School in 2020, accepted an internship in Mombasa, Kenya, through International Medical Aid (IMA).

She and a friend, who is studying to become a doctor, travelled together to the central African country in midMay.

“It was so unbelievable. I’m very, very lucky I had the opportunity to go, and was chosen for the internship … I want to go back as soon as I can,” said Blore.

“It’s so eye-opening, you really appreciate everything and you also want to take advantage of what we have … like you want to go to the hospital if something’s wrong. People in Kenya can’t go if there’s something wrong because they can’t afford it, but we can.”

Blore said going from Lloydminster to Mombasa was a complete culture shock, generally speaking, and of course, medically.

She explained at Coast General Hospital, where she was stationed, the dental ward was part of the hospital.

“Many of the people doing the procedures were still students and some of the patients that came in needed serious procedures done. The equipment at the hospital was not as modern as we have back home,” said Blore.

Most of the patients that came into the dental ward were in a lot of pain, largely due to the fact that in Kenya they rarely teach how to prevent cavities and other dental issues.

Madison shadowed the dentists at the hospital and met many of the patients, but one woman in particular, she said

“So when they took the bandage off she was completely flesh from her neck to her shoulder—there was no skin. And I’m just thinking, oh my gosh, what happened?”

After the patient left, Blore asked one of the dentists what caused this, and she couldn’t believe the answer.

“The reason she even got necrotizing fasciitis was from one cavity that turned into a decayed tooth. One tooth caused her entire neck to her shoulders to be gone … like just flesh. I’ve never seen something like that, and I hope I never see it again,” said Blore.

“It was just so, so hard to accept the fact one tooth did that to her.”

But that’s not where the story ends. Sara needed to have the large wound cleaned daily to avoid further infection. Blore made a point to

“She came in every single day I was there to get the same cleaning so it didn’t become infected. It was so hard. It was mentally challenging because I was just like ‘why is this even happening?’ She was so strong, but she was in pain every time they did it, and I made sure I was in the room when she got those treatments.”

Blore said a doctor told her on day one that Sara didn’t have a very high chance of surviving, but they persisted in cleaning the wound every day, and after three weeks she was told she was healthy enough to be discharged from the hospital.

“I was so excited because it had started to heal up, and her prognosis at the very start was bad—it was like we’re just going to try to help her as much as we can. By week two they were like ‘oh my gosh, it’s healing—she’s going to be ok.’ By week three you could start to see skin growing back, which is unreal, and it was less painful for her every time they cleaned it,” Blore said.

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