As early as she can remember, Lensey Cabral has wanted to become a dentist.
A Sampson County native, Cabral grew up under the guidance of her parents, Dr. Wendy Cabral and Kenny Cabral, before graduating from Clinton High School. She now attends East Carolina University, where she is pursuing a degree in molecular cell biology. After completing dental school, Cabral hopes to return to Sampson County and continue serving the community through dentistry.
Cabral also serves as the service vice president of ECU’s pre-dental club, Smile Squad Honor Society. The organization contributes to the Greenville community by distributing hygiene kits to local organizations, stocking the Purple Pantry student food bank and supporting the Little Pirate Pantry for children.
“I’ve always been interested in dentistry,” Cabral said during a recent interview. “As I’ve grown up, I’ve gotten very involved in the community. My church was a big part of that, and I think that’s why I’ve been so involved in the community. I volunteered a lot, and that helped me meet a lot of people and network. As I grew up and shadowed dentists in town, specifically Dr. Ackerman, I learned that service and dentistry actually go hand in hand more than people may know. That’s currently where I’m at now. I see dentistry as a form of service. It’s a way to give back to my community. So hopefully, after dental school, I’ll be back in Clinton.”
On May 2, Cabral worked with Baptists on Mission and its mobile dental bus ministry, bringing it to her hometown. The mobile unit, which has operated since 1989, provides free medical and dental care to people in need across North Carolina. Churches and organizations can reserve the unit through the Baptist State Convention to host outreach events in their communities.
That is where Cabral and her church, Grove Park Baptist Church, stepped in.
“I got my church involved with the bus for the first time,” Cabral attested. “We paid and scheduled the bus, I found volunteers, sent a schedule out and called patients to verify appointments. I kind of did a lot of the heavy lifting. This time was my first time not being a host, but instead being a coordinator with the bus.
“Normally with these buses, they have a committee and everybody kind of has a different role,” she continued. “For this one, we only had one bus. It was just the dental bus. We didn’t do anything else, and it was only for one day instead of an entire weekend. Honestly, I think the reason it went so smoothly was because of the community that helped me out.”
Cabral noted that volunteers quickly stepped up after she shared information about the clinic through social media and her church network. Fellow ECU pre-dental students also traveled in to assist.
“Being a pre-dental student at ECU, I have other pre-dental students who are my friends, and a lot of them who live close by were willing and wanting to help out,” Cabral said. “So they stepped up really quickly.”
In addition to providing dental services, the outreach effort also emphasized ministry and community support. Members of Grove Park Baptist Church created an evangelism table for patients after treatment.
“Some members of the church got together, and when patients got done on the bus or getting their teeth cleaned inside the church, they were able to pick up a little bag,” Cabral explained. “It had a toothbrush, toothpaste and a prayer card with more information about our church. That was the first time I had seen a location have a table or somebody there to pray with them and get them involved. I thought that was really cool. I owe that to my community and my church for stepping up for that.”
According to Cabral, the experience gave her a new perspective on oral health care and the challenges many families face.
“I’ve known for a long time that you can go to a grocery store, go to church or wherever, and you can see the need for oral hygiene in our community,” Cabral emphasized. “It’s not just the education part of it, it’s making sure people know how important it is, because oral hygiene affects the rest of your body.
“With this specific event, I got to see things firsthand,” she added. “Normally, I’m on the bus, so I do get to see things, but not in the way I got to this time. This time, I was the one interacting with patients beforehand. I definitely think it changed my perspective a little bit.”
Cabral said the experience showed her that access to care can be just as significant as education.
“At first I thought, ‘we need to get the education out there, we need to get the word out there,’” she said. “Although that’s true, and education is very important, I think another part of it is access. I think a lot of people don’t have as much access as we think they do.
“People fill out this form and there are people on a waiting list,” Cabral continued. “They know how important it is. It’s just a matter of whether they can afford it.”
She also pointed out that many families are forced to prioritize other financial obligations before dental care.
“People are going to put money toward obvious things, like groceries, gas and food,” Cabral said. “If you have money to put toward your health, it’s going to go toward your overall medical insurance, not necessarily dental insurance. Dental insurance is separate, so if you break an arm, it’s a much bigger deal than getting a cleaning.
“This experience kind of solidified that for me,” she added. “A lot of people really do know how important oral hygiene is. They want to be seen. Sometimes it’s for pain, but sometimes they just know they’re not in good condition and need a cleaning, but they just can’t afford it. They need better access to dental care.”
During the clinic, Cabral and the volunteer team treated 32 patients and provided more than $10,000 worth of dental care at no cost.
“It’s a great feeling,” Cabral recalled. “For these individuals, this is something they needed. All 32 of them that we saw needed it. I was very grateful that I had two dentists on the bus all day and two hygienists inside all day. We had four providers all day, and that ties back into the community thing I mentioned earlier. I could not have done that without them.”
Cabral said the clinic reinforced not only the importance of oral health, but also the impact community support can have on improving lives.
As she continues her studies at ECU and works toward dental school, Cabral hopes the experience will be only the beginning of a lifelong commitment to serving Sampson County through dentistry, outreach and advocacy for greater access to care.