Latest news from our practice
Mercy Ships - Dental surgeons who care
Dr. Dr. Lür Köper, one of our dental and maxillofacial surgeons, has worked as a volunteer in the “Mercy ships” project for many years. He regularly travels in a hospital ship to the poorest countries in the world, in order to provide free-of-charge medical care to the people, who would never have the chance of receiving dental treatment otherwise.
Oral and maxillofacial surgery counts as one of the main forms of treatment onboard the "Africa Mercy". The range of operations carried out onboard is varied and demanding. The surgical procedures range from congenital defect surgery such as cleft-lips and palates up to complicated reconstruction facial surgery. Extremely difficult and time-consuming are, for example, reconstruction operations resulting from noma (stomatitis), an ulcer that degrades the soft part of the cheek, which result in inflammation of the gums. Dr. Dr. Köper and his colleagues also remove large, benign facial tumours. They seldom operate on malignant tumours as the chance of the patients surviving the operation is frequently very low.
Modern x-ray equipment, computer tomography, an ultra-sonic system, a medicinal laboratory and a blood-bank are available onboard. The floating hospital is also equipped with 60 hospital beds in addition to its six operating theatres and an intensive care station.
You can read more about this magnificent organisation here: Mercy Ships - Ships that bring help.
The "Lückenlos" magazine issued by the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Dentists in Germany has an article in their 2nd quarter of 2011 issue about the hospital ships belonging to the "Mercy Ships" aid organisation and about the work of Dr. Dr. Lür Köper, who continually volunteers for duty onboard. This article can also be found at: here.
