A retired dentist is to embark on a trip to Tanzania to tutor nurses in basic dentistry skills, which are severely lacking in the region.
Stuart Cripps from Cookham, Berkshire, is hoping to pass on his 30 years of expertise to nurses in the East African country which, along with the rest of Africa, he said is in desperate need of dentistry skills.
"It's an important cause because it's giving aid to something that's going to be sustainable and I'm glad to pass on my knowledge," the 62 year-old explained.
"At the moment they have got no dentistry experience. If you get big swellings, the sort of stuff you don't see here, or a large infection then you could die.
"There could be cases where people lose their lives because of a problem like this so it's very serious.
Mr Cripps will be accompanied by six other dentists on the trip, which will take place in November and is being organised by UK charity Bridge2Aid, who specialise in providing dental and community development programmes. The dentists will stay in the region for a fortnight.
Mr Cripps, who retired in April after working at a Beaconsfield practice for 30 years, helped fund the trip with the aid of his daughter Louise.
The pair have so-far raised a total of £5,000, exceeding their £4,000 target, after being sponsored to take on the gruelling Three Peaks Challenge - a climb of nearly 3,500 metres up Britain's highest mountains over three days.
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