Diaries of the Dentist Clinic
Day 1 - flown to Katavi National Park from Arusha. Met by some of the Chada Katavi staff and taken to the village to prepare for the outreach program the following day.
Day 2 - visit to the school for oral health hygiene education with the students, live demonstrations and activities with the children had them all smiling
Day 3 - a full day of outreach clinic work for community members and students alike. Topping the Katavi numbers to over 500 patients seen.
The community over in Katavi have very few dental services around and so an outreach clinic like this is a huge benefit to all.
The distance to other available dental clinics is around 45km, and even then the only real option is to remove teeth. No other services provided such as fillings, cleaning, and other oral health disease treatments, all of which this team are able to do in the village this week.
Day 4 - flown to Mahale from Katavi. Straight to the school from the airstrip to make sure we didn't miss the students before the weekend.
Day 5 - village outreach clinic work again.
Day 6 - time in camp to health any of the Nomad camp staff who have dental issues.
Day 7 - well deserved day off in camp for the dental team, and a chance for them to soak up a bit of the Mahale Magic and get spoilt by the Greystoke Mahale team after a wonderful but hardworking trip.
Day 8 - goodbyes as the dentists set off home to Arusha
SMILE!