A Portable Gospel | Portable Dental Chair

How could a portable dental chair possibly be the key to taking the Gospel to the ends of the earth? Let me tell you...

One of the best-known creations from the engineers at ITEC is the portable dental chair. Through the I-DENT program, our chairs have been all around the world, from the mountains of Bolivia to the jungles of the Democratic Republic of Congo. The I-DENT training supplies indigenous Christians with the skills and equipment needed to provide basic dental care in remote areas in the name of Jesus. And because the portable dental chair is light enough to carry as a backpack or to strap to the back of your bicycle as you ride from village to village, the Gospel is reaching communities that have never before heard of Jesus Christ.

We are careful to remind each I-DENT trainee that the ultimate purpose of their new skills is to provide an entry point for the Gospel. When people see that you care about their physical needs and that you can offer them a service that can relieve significant pain or even potentially save their lives, then they are often more receptive to hearing about the love of Christ.
Just as Jesus traveled from town to town and sought out those who needed him, so do those who graduate from the I-DENT training. They are able to take their dental instruments, pressure pot sterilizer, and portable dental chair into the most remote areas and set up a clinic. The chair especially offers a sense of professionalism and credibility in the eyes of their patients, which in turn boosts the confidence of the trainees.

I-DENT in Bolivia and the DRC
In June 2013, Grace Community Church in Birmingham, Alabama partnered with a local church in Tarata, Bolivia, a town in the Andes mountains at over 9,000 feet high. After receiving the I-DENT training, eight Bolivian men and women are now able to care for their community. Because they have four portable dental chairs, they can travel deep into the mountains and share the Gospel through meeting the dental needs of people who have never heard the word "dentist" and have never heard the Gospel. It is truly a life-changing ministry!

In many developing nations, dental care is completely inaccessible to those who live in rural areas. Unless people living in rural areas are willing to travel for days and can afford the often prohibitively expensive dental care in the cities, they will likely never see a dentist.
This is certainly the case in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). According to the World Health Organization, there are only 15 dentists in the entire DRC! That means there is only 3 dentists for every 5 million people! Can you imagine?

Thankfully, an ITEC team trained 6 church leaders from the DRC in the I-DENT program in December of 2015. Like the graduates in Bolivia, these 6 men now have have the capability to take their portable dental chairs and the Gospel deep into the jungle and reach people in isolated villages who would otherwise have to live with throbbing tooth pain. Our team has never seen such a great need for dental care as they did in the DRC, but we are encouraged by knowing that the I-DENT graduates will continue to serve those around them and show them the love of Christ.

Want to know how you can help take the Gospel to the ends of the earth? Find out more about Dental Training.