Dentist In Bits by Chris Branfield

 

Dentist In Bits

Wow, what a month. I managed the “Coast To Coast” bike ride from Barrow- in Furness to Whitby. By ‘eck it was hard work. Hill after hill after hill. All 3 days into the wind, often blustery and strong, some torrential rain and white out with mist at the top of Tan Hill. A well-earned half -pint at the top with some hot soup and chips. I’m really pleased to have raised about £900 for my Dental Mavericks Charity.

Working With The Eve Branson Foundation




Eve with children in Asni

Five days after the bike ride I flew out to Marrakech before my transport to Asni in the foothills of the Atlas Mountains. Here I met up with colleagues, most of which I had never worked with before and some I had never met until then.

 

This was a brand new project working with the Eve Branson Foundation getting children out of pain.

I have been to Northern Morocco four times before and was hoping that the teeth of the children in this different part of the country would be better.

This was not the case. There were so many decayed teeth and we had to use our limited resources to concentrate on getting children out of pain by removing bad teeth.

New Records Set


This little tot had 4 teeth out, no tears.
Just wanted to get on with her colouring in.
Amazing

On day one we were told that there were 30 children to see. We actually saw 130 kids. Word was out and they were walking 2-3 hours for teeth out to end daily pain. We were taking teeth out for children from as young as 3 years old up to 16 years. We soon worked together as a natural team and I am proud to have bee part of it. This was “pain free” dentistry at its best. In 2 days we saw 270 kids and we took 140 children out of dental pain and removed 325 bad teeth. Phew!

Emotion Nearly Got The Better Of Me



 

There was a young lad called Mohammed. He was early teens and had 2 adult molar teeth that were rotten down to bone and not a lot left. He was in pain and wanted them out. My colleagues tried but, unfortunately, couldn’t get near him to even put in the little cotton wool rolls with sleepy gel.

I was asked to “have a go”. I did connect with him and did manage to make a start getting him numb. It did

We did a lot of deep breathing together and I said “Cava?” a lot. We got 3 teeth out on one side. They were really tough but we went really gently and did not rush. Mohammed needed a rest, so did I. We hugged each other for a bit before getting the last tooth out. He was so appreciative. I nearly caved in and nearly blubbed when an interpreter said that Mohammed said I was a good man. We were all humbled by the appreciation we received.

A Great Platform To Work From

I am really pleased with the collaboration with the Eve Branson Foundation. We were looked after really well and they were really chuffed with us as we exceeded all expectations. This is a great platform to progress and we can support each other to provide a “Teeth For Life” programme for the community.

Until next time. Take care and be good.

transpire that Mohammed had had a head injury that did leave a bit of brain injury. We were doing really well before he got a bit agitated again. I thought that we would need to give in as I feared for our safety. Bless him though, he was adamant that he needed his teeth out and he filled up. I gestured to him ‘one more go’ and off we went again.

Chris

Chris Branfield is Principal Dentist at Castle Park Dental Care, Castle Villa, 28 Castle Road, Cottingham, telephone 01482 772550. He has been in dental practice for 21 years and has a special interest in life changing, pain free dentistry with dental implants, rapid teeth straightening and cosmetic dentistry. And, not only that Chris is founder member and trustee of Dental Mavericks charity- ending the daily dental pain of Moroccan kids. For more patient success stories and Chris’s charity work go here now www.castleparkdental.co.uk