Island dentist bringing smiles to faces in Congo rainforests

Dr Paul Frank from Chertsey House Dental Group in St Martin’s is travelling to the remote areas of the rainforests in the Republic of Congo this week, volunteering with UK charity SmileStar.

Working as part of a team, he will be giving essential dental care and oral health education to the under-served communities, staying in the area to maximise their impact.

‘We’re literally working under a tree,’ he said.

‘The only treatment we provide is extractions because it’s the only kit we can take.’

As the only SmileStar volunteer from Guernsey, this will be Dr Frank’s sixth trip for the charity and his second visit to the Congo – which has become a yearly destination.

‘I first heard about SmileStar when I went on holiday to Kenya,’ he said.

‘I read a hotel pamphlet that mentioned them and I thought “I have got to follow this up”, so then I did follow it up and the rest is history.’

SmileStar’s work travels the globe, with trips to other African countries as well as India, its director and founder, Mitesh Badiani goes on every trip, helping over 50,000 patients.

Mr Badiani will soon ‘be taking a bit of back seat’ after celebrating 15 years of the charity, leaving Dr Frank to ‘probably’ take over as clinical lead for the Congo trips.

‘It’s nice to actually do something, provide a service,’ said Dr Frank.

‘You go there, achieve something and leave behind people who are pain-ree. You’ve left something behind that’s worth it.’

With the language barrier being ‘the biggest problem’, Dr Frank said they ‘usually treat about 600’ people during their two-week trips, and the locals make good patients.

‘Some of them have waited a year in pain,’ he said.

‘They don’t have any local anaesthetic, so it’s agony.

‘We bring local, so it’s a completely different ballgame for them. They can have an extraction pain-free, rather than going to a local witch doctor.’

Flying into the country’s capital, Brazzaville marks just the beginning of the team’s upcoming journey.

From there, they will catch another flight on a small plane to Odzala-Kokoua National Park, where Dr Frank stayed last year. This time, they are going further – taking the ‘long drive’ down the unpaved roads to the tribal point of Formosa in the Central African Republic.

Contributing to the cause, Kamba African Rainforest Experiences allow the volunteers to stay in their accommodation lodges.

Dr Frank and the team stayed in Ngaga lodge last year, which started life as a gorilla research centre.

‘It’s good fun,’ he said.

‘It’s a tiring day, because you’re working in 34-degree heat, so pretty hot, but at the end of the trip we all get a little bit of a break and have days off to go and see the wildlife and things.

‘There’s always 12 of us on the team, usually five or six dentists from the UK and the rest support staff,’ he said.

‘There’s usually one Royal Marine on the trip as well, it’s part of their recovery if they’ve got something like PTSD.’

With the exception of some Royal Marines, SmileStar’s volunteers are all self-funded. They cover their own travel, accommodation and living expenses, ensuring that all donations go directly to supporting the charity’s work.

The team bring two bags each, full of medical kits – not to mention fun things such as crayons, paper and footballs for their local spectators.

‘At about three o’clock all the schoolchildren come and gather around for the entertainment of watching the dentists,’ said Dr Frank.

‘The local town dogs always come and watch too.

‘Last year we stopped at a school on the way each morning and all the children were allowed to come out of their classrooms to meet us.

‘It was a big hit, everybody enjoyed it.’

SmileStar provides high-quality dental care to underprivileged communities in African countries, India and ex-Royal Marines in the UK.

To find out more, visit www.smilestarcharity.com and if anyone would like to donate to the charity they can do so at www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/smilestarcharity.