Canton, Texas – August 4, 2008  Friday, August 1, Legacy Dental Group member Dr. Ben Bratcher completed a 14-day “house call” to the African continent, and now begins the long journey home to waiting friends and family. Serving as a critical skill team member, Dr. Bratcher and 5 other volunteers from the Canton area journeyed to the Shiselweni area in the nation of Swaziland.

Dr. Bratcher and his team, Craig Ham, Pat May, Marshall May, Jane Fritz and Diana Young traveled to the remote, rural areas of Swaziland to provide dental care in the form of extractions of infected teeth, preventive care such as vitamins, worming medicine and pain medicine. They also spent time in ministry in the form of youth and women’s retreats where the Word of God was shared and studied in small groups. This team was made up of members of Family Bible Fellowship and Lakeside Baptist Church.

Dr. Bratcher noted before leaving, “This is something I feel God has called me to do. It is important that we be listening for God’s call and are prepared to respond. I believe He calls each of us to use the gifts he has given us to care for those less fortunate than we are.”

An Air Force veteran, Dr. Bratcher has served as a short term medical missionary previously to both South Africa and remote areas of the Amazon River in South America, and is a founding member of Family Bible Fellowship.

The team arrived in Johannesburg, South Africa on July 17, and then travelled into the tiny Kingdom of Swaziland, a land-locked country about the size of New Jersey surrounded by the nations of South Africa and Mozambique on Friday July 18. Once there they set about conducting youth and ladies’ retreat, which lasted through the weekend.

On Monday morning, the “shingle” of our hometown Legacy Dental Group was hung out on a tree, and they were open for business! Performing dentistry during the mornings and sharing fellowship with members of a local church in the afternoons, Dr. Bratcher has worked to “make each minute of his mission a service to someone” as he described it to his fellow practitioners at the Legacy clinic in Canton. While the dental care was being delivered, the rest of the team was busy sharing their skills as well delivering preventive care and working with the local youth in a very effective Sports Ministry. Pat, Marshall and Craig worked hard to reach the youth by structuring activities that they could relate to.


Dr. Gerald Macy commented, when asked about Dr. Batchers’ missions “Ben is simply taking our home town commitment to the next level, and sharing a little of that commitment with the rest of us here.” Dr. Glenn Stern adds “It was really neat to see this trip come together, with people from different churches in our community working on the same mission team with a common purpose.”

Macy says that they have some “surprises” waiting for their friend and partner once he arrives back here in Canton during the coming days, and “that the hygienists’ can’t wait for him to get back on his rolling chair and go back to work!”

Since 1965, Legacy Dental Group has served the Van Zandt, Henderson, and Kaufman areas with the latest in dental procedures and state-of-the-art technology. The practicing dentists are comprised of Dr. Ben Bratcher, Dr. Michael Hackney, Dr. Glenn Stern and Dr. Gerard Macy. The office is located at 240 E. Hwy. 243 in Canton. Visit their website at www.cantondental.com.

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If you would like more information about this topic, or to schedule an interview with the doctors at Legacy Dental Group, please call Myles Pennington at (214) 208-0845 or email myles@spenmar.com.