Three NHS dental members are to help provide much needed dental care to people in Tanzania.
Dental nurse Carolyn Macfarlane and dentists Joanna Niciejewska and Penny Holmes, members of the Bayhead NHS Dental Clinic on the island of Stornoway, have agreed to spend some of their annual leave taking part in the Bridge2Aid Dental Volunteer Programme.
Based in the Mwanza region of North West Tanzania, the UK-registered charity works closely with the Tanzanian Government to deliver its dental care strategy.
Tanzania, like most of Africa, suffers from a severe shortage of dentists, with just one dentist for every 300,000 people.
In addition, around 90 per cent of the country’s dentists are based in cities whilst 90 per cent of the population live in rural areas, meaning people may suffer mouth pain and infection for years as they have no access to any sort of dental facility.
The Bayhead dental team are trying to raise around £3,000 to help with the costs of the two-week trip and are holding a Light Lunch between 12 and 2pm at Sandwick Community Hall on Saturday, February 21 in a bid to attract as much support as possible.
