Club Meeting: Treating Tooth Decay in Latin America

Wilsonville resident Dr. Steve Duffin, DDS, been working on a new approach to treating tooth decay for 15 years. This method involves treating tooth decay with medicine rather than using needles and drills and placing fillings in the traditional manner. The vast percentage of people with untreated tooth decay cannot receive care in a traditional dental office due to cost and availability. He and his team have been collaborating with partners in Latin America to bring a simple, effective and low cost treatment to community centers. Recently, he spent a month in the city of Cochabamba, Bolivia, in the Andes Mountain range. He worked at a primary school where the level of tooth decay is extremely high and two-thirds of the children have mouth pain related to cavities. He will talk about his recent trip there and what was accomplished.

Dr. Duffin earned a bachelor’s degree in microbiology in 1979 from the University of California at Los Angeles. he graduated with a doctorate in dental surgery from Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia in 1983 and is a licensed and certified dentist in Oregon and California. He is the dental director at NoDK, LLC, and the owner of Shoreview Dental in Keizer, Oregon. He also served as the president, CEO and dental director of one of the largest Medicaid-provider networks in Oregon from 1994 to 2006. He is a member of the Rotary Club of Wilsonville.

The Rotary Club of Wilsonville meets weekly Thursdays at noon to carry out its purpose of providing service and fellowship to members and the Wilsonville community. The club is holding hybrid “Virtual In Person” (VIP) meetings. People may attend in person, or they may use Zoom (http://www.tinyurl.com/Rotary97070). Guests are welcome. For more information, email president@wilsonvillerotary.com.