A LESSON FOR GAB FROM GUADALAJARA
By Ed de la Vega, DDS
PhilBoxing.com
Sat, 27 Feb 2010
Dra. Nadia Medina Becerril.
Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico -- Just before the official weigh-in was held for Boxeo de Gala’s promotions on Saturday featuring WBC World Lightweight champion Rodel Mayol of the Philippines and challenger Omar Nino Romero of this city, the final medical check up for all the fighters was held at the Mision Carlton Hotel by the “Comision Guadalajara Profesional de Box.”
Doing the medical exams was a female doctor from the Comision. Her name is Dra. Nadia Medina Becerril. Dra. Becerril is also the WADA recognized doctor for the Jalisco area. She is a local medical doctor here at Guadalajara.
I watched intently by her side as she did the routine exams that included amongst many other procedures, a close examination of all the boxers oral condition. She used a hand-held portable intra-oral light and a tongue blade.
She was checking the teeth and other surrounding oral structures as part of the total examination procedure!
Now, she may not have seen everything that is to see in the boxer’s mouth in that short period of time, certainly not all the dental problems, but the fact that she did it speaks volume of her work.
And, just to emphasize the importance of that particular portion of her job, she made sure the findings were noted on the fighter’s medical records and that the boxers and the trainers were verbally made aware of the oral condition of the boxers. In addition, she gave advises as to how to mitigate the problems.
Her action really blew me down.
I have seen commission doctors in the Philippines on several occasions do a pre fight exams.
I dare say I never saw them look inside the mouth and check on the teeth of our boxers.
Perhaps there’s a lesson learned here.
Thus, I decided to write about Dra. Becerril’s work. If nothing else, it perfectly fits my humble crusade to improve the oral conditions of Filipino boxers.
I sincerely hope that the people at the Games and Amusement Board (GAB) in the Philippines will take note and do something that has been long coming.
They should have a stronger pre-fight medical examinations policy that includes intra-oral examinations to determine the oral conditions of the boxers fighting locally and abroad.
And, they should enforce it to the letter to force managers to give more and better attention to the teeth of their boxers. No boxing license should be issued if the boxer’s teeth are bad.
If the GAB medical doctors do not feel that they are qualified to make an assessment of the teeth of boxers, perhaps its time to get dentists as part of the GAB medical crew.
They do oral exams here at Guadalajara. I see no reason it can’t be done in the Philippines unless of course the powers that be do not consider a good oral health for boxers as a must. Or there are other priorities.
But that’s another story.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ed de la Vega, DDS.
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