Our mission in May 2022 allowed us to establish various new initiatives:

Our team compromised of an experienced denitst and oral surgeon: Sohair Hayat. We also had a very competent, newly qualified dentist: Nima Kazimpour. Finally Omar Hayat helped us with the administration, overseeing patient flow and general practice management.

When we arrived at Bonthe district hospital, we were taken to our allocated premises to set up the clinic. Unfortunately, the room was not prepared and it was bursting at the seams with old hospital equipment. I was deeply concerned by this as I only had 2 days to set up a clinic and leave my colleagues behind to treat the patients and train the staff, working at the hospital, who will continue to run the clinic.

After spending the first day cleaning up the room and setting up the clinic, it became apparent that the general surgeons at the hospital had intentions to use the newly refurbished, (previously redundant) room for their patient overflow. These ideas were soon quashed and we were left to continue with our primary aim of improving access to dental care in Sierra Leone.

I was able to leave the district hospital in the very capable hands of our lead dentist, Sohair, with the help of a couple of our previously trained therapists.

They successfully managed to treat patients and train several healthcare workers to administer local anaesthetic and safetly extract teeth.

Following the successful establishment of a new clinic in Bonthe District, half of my team relocated to Bonthe island to establish a clinic in the main hospital.

Here, we were met by the clinical director, Dr Sowa. He was a visionary, humble and generous host. He ran a tight ship, yet found the time to acknowledge everybody, from fellow doctors, cleaning staff as well as patients.

We established our second clinic of our mission on Bonthe Island and successfully trained two healthcare workers, who will continue to run this unit.

Having the mobile unit available allowed us to carry out simple fillings and cosmetic work on teeth, preventing the need for carrying out extractions on them.

At the end of this mission, we successfully introduced new members to our team, two new clinics and a new group of dental workers that will continue to run these clinics.

Having safety incorporated UK colleagues in our mission has demonstrated what can be achieved, moving forward. A big step forward in achieving our ultimate goal of a comprehensive network of dental therapists across the country.