DR Magdalena Laskowska of Harwood Dental Practice, Tavistock and Dr Mitesh Badiani, who set up the charity SmileStar, along with a team of volunteers recently travelled to Kenya to provide dental treatment and oral health education to the rural villages in Laikipia and Samburu.

Many of the rural areas in Kenya have no dental service. Kenya’s population of 44 million has only 1,000 dentists (1 dentist to 44,000 people) compared with the UK’s 41,000 dentists (one dentist to 1,560 people).

The Samburu people have poor access to clean water and they use a twig from ‘the toothbrush tree’ to clean their teeth.

The team consisted of three highly skilled dentists, three dental nurses, a general practitioner and two support staff, all of whom paid their own fares. They bought all the dental equipment and materials with them from the UK.

The team visited many areas of the conservancy allowing all community members to attend for treatment. Word soon spread that pain free dental treatment was being carried out.

The two week trip was split between the area of Laikipia and the Samburu.

Over the two weeks the team saw over 1,250 patients, extracted over 600 teeth and saved a little boy’s life. They gave away hundreds of toothbrushes and educated mothers on caring for their children’s teeth.

Dr Badiani and SmileStar Ltd organise two dental charity trips per year to remote disadvantaged communities where basic dentistry is not available.

If you would like to get involved or would like more information please contact SmileStar on 01364 654070.