Latest News
Congratulations to Stella, Our Award-Winning Hygienist! October 2024
We are incredibly proud to announce that our wonderful hygienist, Stella, has been awarded the prestigious title of Oral Healthcare Professional of the Year. This honor highlights her dedication to providing exceptional patient care and promoting oral health in our community. Stella’s passion and commitment have truly made a difference, and we are thrilled to celebrate her well-deserved recognition.
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ADDITIONAL ASSOCIATE DENTIST January 2015
We are delighted to introduce Ricardo Martins LMD (U.Lis) MSc (U.Birm.) as an additional member of our growing practice. Ricardo will be welcoming new patients for general private dentistry, using his wealth of experience and excellent qualifications to bring you the trusted service for which the practice is known.
Implant Open Evening
Thank you to all those attended our Implant Open Evening and information forum on 3 November 2014. We were delighted to see you and hope you enjoyed it as much as we did.
If you missed it but would like more information on Implant treatments please visit our Implants page and do book a no-obligation consultation.
Tanzania 2013
If you haven’t met me yet, I’m Sarah, new Dental therapist at Tupsley Dental Practice. During the Christmas break I embarked on a fantastic adventure doing dental voluntary work in Africa. It was something I have always wanted to do, here is a short account of the trip.
On 20th December 2013 our team of 6 travelled to Tanzania for a very different Christmas. The trip was organised and led by Mitesh Badiani, Clinical Lead and founder of dental charity Smilestar, accompanied by myself, an oral surgeon, 2 dental nurses and a student who came along as our sterilisation nurse.
After a long flight we finally arrived in Dar es Salaam late afternoon on 21st December. We had the evening to acclimatise then set off early next morning on what turned out to be a 16 hour journey to our place of work, Mufindi in the Southern Highlands. It was a marathon and the last 2 hours driving were in the dark on a rough track, we were relieved to arrive at our destination.
Our accommodation for the week was a volunteers’ house in a Children’s Village. The village itself looked after 72 orphans, most of whom were victims of HIV. The house was rustic and basic but soon became home.
Our work took place about 30 minutes drive away, mode of transport the local ambulance! Facilities were basic, we had a designated treatment room with 2 dental chairs, however the chairs were not connected to power so upright position only for the patients, head and hand held torches for light and no water at first. Sterilisation was with a pressure cooker heated on coals so very slow.
Our first 2 days were fairly quiet with a steady flow of patients, approximately 36 each day. As we were finished in good time on the second day we headed to the Children’s village where I gave a tooth brushing seminar. Children of all ages attended and each child was given a brand new toothbrush and took part in the interactive task. We were thanked with a song from the children.
On Christmas Day we had the day off. We spent the day being shown around the local area, a beautiful place in amongst tea plantations. We watched the orphans’ Christmas concert then headed to our hosts for a traditional Christmas dinner. Quite a treat!
Unexpectedly, when we arrived at the clinic on Boxing Day we found 103 patients waiting, the word had obviously spread! We had a busy and intense day of extracting teeth. With similar numbers waiting on our final day, unfortunately we had to have a cut off point of around 80 patients to allow time to clear up and get everything sterilised before dark.
In total we saw 250 patients and extracted over 500 teeth between us. Most patients were suffering with pain and broken down teeth due to decay caused by drinking fizzy drinks. Sadly with water not readily available and a poor diet due to very little food, fizzy drinks provide energy and are easily obtained.
The patients were all very appreciative of our help, many had walked miles to be able to see us including a group of 9 yr old girls who walked 10km without parents just to get their troublesome teeth taken out. The standard comment coming from the queue of patients waiting was “why is no one screaming or crying?” because they all imagine dentistry to be a torturous experience and couldn’t believe we were able to treat them painlessly. It was certainly humbling to be able to help these people and the trip was a real eye-opener.
It was my first trip to Africa volunteering and I have the bug for it now. Next trip planned for May 2015 and I’m looking forward to it already!
