The smile safari

Posted by Dianne Tipping-Woods on 21 January 2013

“The plan for our first mobile dental safari in Zimbabwe was hatched under a camelthorn tree near a place called Korodziba on Hwange’s southern boundary,” explains Mark Butcher, from Imvelo Safari Lodges.

The dentists enjoying sundowner's at Stoffie's Plan after treating 216 patients at Sipepa Hospital.

He was telling his clients Diego Romero and Sergio Morante about Imvelo’s efforts to share the benefits of wildlife and tourism with the communities around Hwange and Victoria Falls national parks. After graduating, Diego and Sergio had travelled around rural Nicaragua as volunteers, giving free dental clinics to communities that needed them.

By the time they’d finished lunch, Mark, Diego and Sergio had the blueprint for Sonrisas Para Zimbabwe; a mobile dental safari that would combine a trip to some of Zimbabwe’s most beautiful tourist attractions with visits to some of the country’s most remote villages to dispense free dental care.

Fabio loosens a deep rooted molar that needed to come out.

Two years and thousands of extractions, fillings and root canals later, the casual lunchtime conversation has resulted in a project that has helped nearly 3000 people to access world-class dental care. “It has been a life-changing project for the villagers who have benefited; but also for the whole team,” says Mark.

In late 2012, Sergio and Diego, accompanied by 13 other Spanish dentists completed their second mobile dental safari in Zimbabwe. “You could estimate the value of their time and services, but you can’t put a value on their compassion, the way that they have overcome every challenge and embraced every opportunity, or the smiles they have left behind on their travels through Zimbabwe,” says Mark. “They’re a remarkable bunch of people.”

The dentists after treating Rose Mabhena, patient number 1516.

On their recent trip, they averaged three procedures per person they saw, and treated 1516 patients over the course of their ten day stay in the country. In between, they got to experience some of Zimbabwe’s most wild and beautiful places, staying at Bomani Tented Camp in Hwange and then at Gorges Lodge in Victoria Falls. “We made sure they had some fun and were well-looked after, but the trip was no glorified holiday; I’ve never seen people work like them,” says Mark.

The dentists spent one of their days off in Victoria Falls, where they explored the rain forest, bungee jumped and went white water rafting.

The hardest day was at Lupote clinic near Hwange, where they treated 407 people. “If they took a single 15 minute break it was a lot,” says Mark. Every single person was seen, even though it meant getting back to the lodge at midnight.

Given the scale of the operation, organising the trip involved some serious planning. Imvelo Safari Lodges provided all the logistical support, liaising with Zimbabwe’s Ministry of Health and registering the Spanish dentists to practice in Zimbabwe. They also planned the schedules with community leaders, provided accommodation and support for the team and arranged food, compressors, suitable working spaces and dental supplies for an unknown number of patients. “We also had some financial assistance from American philanthropist Andy Schatte of D3, which was used, among other things, to cover the costs of transporting people into the contact points, “but the dentists all insisted on paying their own way.”

“For me it is really special to see someone like Andy not only signing a cheque, but getting in the dust, cleaning, picking up all the instruments and helping us with anything we needed while working,” says Alfonso Perez, one of the team of dentists.

At Lupote Clinic, the dentists created a record they don't intend to break, treating 407 patients in one day.

A strict schedule of contact points at either schools or clinics were set up across two districts, covering over 250 km in a straight line from the Xibi Xegu Village in the south, (west of the Korodziba Gate), to Simangeni Village, on the Zambezi River, just east of the Deka River mouth. “In the weeks before the dentist’s arrival, we visited each village to make sure they knew when and where the buses would come for them,” explains Mark.

Even the best-laid plans can go awry though and the flights from Madrid to Bulawayo were delayed by more than 24 hours. This meant that instead of spending some time acclimatising at Bomani Tented Camp, as per the original plan, the intrepid dentists decided to get straight to work at Sipepa Hospital on their first day, rather than let anyone down.

On day one, they saw 216 patients (plus Sergio who broke a tooth), conducted over 400 dental procedures. They still made it to Stoffie’s Pan near Bomani in time for sundowners at 18h00, where they were treated to a beautiful sunset and about 40 elephant sipping and splashing in the water a few metres away. These were followed by ten lions at the Bomani pan just before dinner.

Dinner for the dentists at Bomani Tented Camp.

Despite their gruelling schedule, “there was Spanish music playing, bouts of dancing and lots of laughter,” Mark says. At one school, the dentists were asked to talk to the kids about their profession. “When the teacher asked who wanted to be a dentist, the entire class raised their hands.”

Aside from alleviating suffering, dental care literally saves lives, treating dangerous infections and debilitating pain that can lead to malnutrition and, in vulnerable people, death. “I remember an old grandmother from Makeni whose life we saved by simply pulling 5 rotten teeth out of her head and giving her a bagg of antibiotics,” Mark says.

“Personally I did a extraction of a molar where the infection had led to a facial fistula; an infection like that can put the life of the patient in danger,” confirms Alfonso.

Some of the children were scared of the dentists, who were kitted out in masks and goggles with head lamps, stainless steel luxators, probes and mirrors. To make them feel better about their first visit to the dentist, the team made balloon animals for each of the children they treated.

With the 1173 patients they saw in 2011, Sonrisas Para Zimbabwe have seen 2689 people from over 100 villages and completed over 8000 procedures. “In hindsight we’ve achieved something phenomenal,” says Mark. “Last year, the only mouth the dentists looked into that had received dental care before was mine, now there is annual dental care.”

This is what happened when these school kids were asked to raise their hand if they wanted to be a dentist.

The team spent their last night at Gorges lodge, watching Verreaux ‘s eagles soaring overhead. They left Zimbabwe with smiles all around. You can read more anecdotes and examples of their care on the Imvelo website.