Dr. Brosly Velazquez: Care Rooted in Community

Dr. Brosly Velazquez became a schoolteacher because she loves working with children, loves watching their personalities blossom. Yet, for all the joy she fostered in her classroom, some of her students still could not bring themselves to smile. It was their teeth. Their families just didn’t know about oral health and didn’t have money to spare on toothbrushes, toothpaste, and floss. It broke Brosly’s heart.

So she went back to school to become a pediatric dentist.

Children with clefts are more likely to have missing or extra teeth and to experience tooth decay than their peers. Today, as a dentist at Smile Train partner Tess Unlimited in Guatemala, Brosly equips her patients’ parents to take care of their baby’s unique smile from the time they are born — because, as she always reminds them, the best way to ensure a child’s teeth remain in good condition throughout their cleft journey is a strong start.

“Children who grow up without dental pain will gain weight properly for surgery and develop better, both mentally and physically, and will need less speech therapy. Prevention is always better than correction!” she maintains.

Another thing she loves about working with Smile Train patients is that no one understands the importance of a bright, healthy smile like a child with a cleft. While other children fear the dentist, after a few visits, her patients run towards her with hugs.

“At first, [the children] don't want to come in,” she said. “But, later, they say, 'Look, today I brushed my teeth!' 'I didn’t eat as many sweets today!' That is good; that means they are following the recommendations. We are planting in fertile soil."

Rooting your work in the soil of your land and people makes all the difference. Brosly remembers how it was when she was growing up. Back then, children with clefts had to wait for American doctors to fly into town on a short-term surgical mission and hope their number was called before it packed up and left. “They didn’t return to check the results or follow up on the patients’ progress,” she notes. “I think that’s very important.”

Smile Train believes strong patient-doctor relationships are basic to quality healthcare, particularly when children are involved. That’s why our model trains and equips local healthcare specialists like Brosly and her team across 75+ countries to provide the high-quality cleft care their neighbors need year-round.

It means she is there by her patients’ sides for every new food, every first day of school, every toothache, and every smile.

Just like a member of the family.

"Giving from the heart, sincerely, is worth more than anything. And it's a great job. In the end, a child's smile is priceless,” she said. “The satisfaction is immense, and one by one, we can build a better world."