East Grinstead Dentist Returns From Charity Mission In Morocco
A dentist has returned to his practice in East Grinstead after spending time helping children in Morocco.
Jaspal Sandhu has recently returned from the remote villages of Morocco as part of a venture organised by the charity, Maverick Dentists. Jaspal joined 17 other dentists in providing much-needed dental care for children, many of whom had extensive tooth decay and tooth pain.
Jaspal and the team extracted a large number of teeth using traditional techniques and taught children about diet and brushing their teeth. Many of the children have a high sugar diet and this contributes to high rates of decay; access to even the most basic dental care is poor and oral health education is almost non-existent.
This was Mr Sandhu’s third trip to Morocco with the charity and this time, he said that a large number of older patients had come to the clinic for assistance, even though it was aimed at children. He said that it was impossible to turn them away and the team worked hard to get all the patients seen.
Mr Sandhu, who is based at East Grinstead High Street Dental Practice, said that he saw a huge number of decayed teeth, which are largely the result of a sugary diet. The tea in Morocco contains around 20 sugars and the team distributed masses of toothbrushes and tubes of toothpaste.
The team set up a makeshift clinic using four fold-away dental chairs and used limited knowledge of Arabic and hand signals to communicate.
The project in Morocco has been up and running since 2010 and it is making a real difference to the people of the Al Jebha tribe. Mr Sandhu was one of the founding members of the charity and is proud of the work the volunteers have achieved so far.
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