Dr Navid Tahir talks about his latest mission to provide essential dental care to communities in the Rif Mountains of Morocco.
At the end of April, I went out with Dental Mavericks to Babtaza in the Rif Mountains of Morocco to provide emergency dental care.
I also discussed the drawings and plans for building a two to four surgery practice with X-ray facilities, a decontamination room, reception and waiting area, changing rooms as well as an apartment facility for volunteers and aid workers to use.
When I arrived at Gatwick Airport, it was a pleasure to meet Dr Gautam Sharma, principal dentist at West Earlam Dental in Norwich, who was a student with me at Queen Mary’s, St Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry.
The team included nurses Hermela, Chloe and Emma, who were fantastic throughout. The Moroccan Red Crescent provided an excellent group of translators.
Overall, 887 children were provided with emergency dental treatment, 474 were provided with oral hygiene instruction, fluoride application toothbrushes and toothpastes, 160 dental extractions were performed and 530 fillings were performed over the week.
Efficient environment
As Morocco performed well in the football World Cup, Dental Mavericks worked in collaboration with Rif Com charity, the residents of Ametrass and FC Babtaza to provide eight girls’ and eight boys’ football teams with a football tournament.
My practices, Whitworth Dental Care and Park House Dental Care, also sponsored two of the football teams. My boys team actually went on to the win the tournament. The Dental Mavericks volunteers were able to set up a triage clinic at the tournament to check which children are in pain so they could then attend the emergency clinics.
I really enjoyed the experience and the chance to provide dental care to the local community, as well as work with an old university colleague. Many thanks to Billy, Julian and Amine for helping in the background. I’m now hoping to go out with Gautam in the future again.
We went over some plans to help get a clinic designed so that Dental Mavericks can provide good dental care within an efficient environment and with better facilities for the dental volunteers.
Wonderful support
Overall, we have raised £27,908, including gift aid. Many thanks to all of my staff, patients, local businesses, family members and friends for their contributions and kind words.
I also want to thank Simon at McKillop’s Dental for helping with the clinic design, Emma Bolton at SDI for the restorative materials, Roy at Swift Laboratories for their contributions and Henry Schein for the fluoride and dental supplies.
A special mention for three people who made this happen and helped me through one of the toughest times of my life. I certainly could not have done this without them – Cally Walker at Dental Mavericks for allowing me to be a volunteer and supporting my ideas and efforts. My two brothers, Imran and Shahzad Tahir, who covered everything that goes on in the background at the practices in the UK along with my wonderful staff team. Thanks for the support!
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