This was our first mission, we had linked up with a local women’s charity, “Soroptimist”, whom I was introduced while on holiday in Morocco.

The ladies kindly facilitated access to several schools on the outskirts of Agadir, as well as a school in the city. It became abundantly clear that there was a clear difference between the oral health of both groups of children.

The city kids had the occasional tooth that had decay, not too different to European kids, where as it was not uncommon for the children living in the outskirts to be presenting with swollen cheeks, relating to tooth borne abscesses!

Teachers were bringing children to us who were presenting with signs of stunted growth and did not have any appetite. They had put this down to abdominal problems. Following a brief dental examination, it became clear that these kids were
suffering with advanced tooth decay. So, it was no wonder they refused to eat!

We proceeded to spend the rest of the trip screening all the children in the rural schools. This would allow us to prepare the necessary resources for our future trips, when we would carry out the necessary dental treatment.

On our return to the UK, we purchased a fully functional mobile dental van. This would be the only practical way to allow us to carry out the treatment these communities required.

This is Mac, our dental engineer extraordinaire. Thanks to him, our van is fully operational and ready to go!!