Barry Dental Duo Helps More Than 350 Children on Morocco Mission
A dental duo from Barry Island has helped more than 350 children on a charity trip to Morocco.
Dentist Gareth Crowther and dental nurse Louise Bottomer visited rural communities in the Atlas Mountains as part of a charity mission organised by Dental Mavericks.
During their stay in Morocco, Gareth and Louise formed part of a team of volunteers providing dental care to hundreds of children who had never seen a dentist before. Most did not own a toothbrush and standards of oral health were very poor.
On the first day, the Dental Mavericks group set up a temporary clinic at the village school in Asni. Louise worked with other nurses to provide fluoride varnish treatments, offer advice about oral cleaning and assist the dental team with extractions, while Gareth worked alongside the other volunteer dentists to diagnose dental disease, extract severely decayed and provide pain relief treatment. The team also set up clinics in other villages and in total, more than 350 children benefited.
Many of the children who visited the clinics had only received treatment from untrained dentists, sometimes barbers or village elders, in the past. These treatments involves rustic instruments and no anaesthetic. To the children, the new instruments and equipment were a revelation and they were very grateful for the treatment they received. Gareth said that the best way to interact with them was to be as silly as possible and to try and make them laugh, as there was a language barrier and this helped them to feel more relaxed.
The duo fundraised to pay for the trip beforehand and thanked everyone who made generous donations and supported them by buying raffle tickets and joining in events at Advance Dental Care.
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