Knitting With Purpose

“The Tooth And Nothing But The Tooth”

By Chris “Dr Smile Maker” Branfield

Knitting With Purpose

Hello again. I hope that you are well. Oh, what a month. My first time giving a speech at an International Medical Laser Congress.

Really exciting, if a bit daunting. It was OK once I got going with some great feedback, which was nice. My colleague and gum expert here at the practice, Ilay, was keynote speaker and started the dental part of congress.

Everybody seemed to know Ilay as he had trained many of them all over the world. There were other parallel sessions going on for other specialities including dermatology, gynaecology, aesthetics and male gento-urinary medicine. 

Ilay Maden

Some of the topics shown the timetable on the big screen in reception for some of these subjects made me wince. I made new, interesting friends from all over the world. I was sat next to Johnny Wong from Hong Kong. What a nice guy. In fact everybody I met was, really positive and enthusiastic.

Yours Truly

I made friends with people from India, Australia, Romania, Canada, USA, Israel, Slovenia, Italy, Hong Kong, England and Singapore. Mostly dental but also with other specialities. I spoke on the Saturday morning and there was a party the night before so there were less people than the day before. I was sensible and got a relatively early night!

Knitting?...Purpose?

Here we go, Branfield off on one again. Just stick with me this is really good. I have mentioned before that two lovely patients knit some fantastic clothes for children that we take to Morocco and send to Syrian refugees in camps and orphanages in Lebanon and Greece. 

Well, a Knit And Natter group in the area got inspired by this and they have been really prolific in knitting clothes and blankets for these needy people. I think that this is so great, people getting inspired to get involved doing good for people they don’t know who have nothing for nothing. That is what our Dental Mavericks Charity is all about.

Having A Catch Up Over Tea And Cake 

So, we finally met one sunny evening just recently as I wanted to say a personal thank you and show them what Dental Mavericks was about with pictures and tell the story of how it happened and illustrate with a few case study stories.

My colleague made the cakes that went down a storm (thanks Gail for all your hard work and organising). 

So, once again, a MASSIVE THANK YOU to the Knit And Natter group for your support and our anonymous patients for all that you do. I’ll be off to Morocco in October for a big project in the Rif Mountains. 

Becoming A Bigger Player

In the Lebanon Dental Mavericks have now a reputation for being very much people and caring based and making things as fun as possible in such awful circumstances. Now working with other NGO’s and even involved with research with King’s College, London and Harvard University, Boston, USA. Well done Cally Gedge for driving this and your energy and love. Well proud!

Until next time. Take care and be good.

Here’s to a good night sleep

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 25 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’ humanitarian work go here now www.castleparkdental.co.uk

On Top Of The World

“The Tooth And Nothing But The Tooth”

By Chris “Dr Smile Maker” Branfield

On Top Of The World

Hello again. I hope that you are well. Another busy month, phew! I’ve just got back from Morocco getting kids out of pain up in the Morocco . This was a collaboration with the Local Health Authority in Chef Chaouen province.

It Felt Like Being On Top Of The World

We got more remote than ever before needing 4x4’s to get us to some places. We all worked really hard and put our heart and souls into it. Another great team of people and our largest team yet. In fact our British team split into 2 teams for 4 out of the 5 days of working so we could get to as many people in need as we could. We saw almost 3000 children and every one received fluoride treatment, oral health advice, a toothbrush and toothpaste. In fact with our Moroccan colleagues about 6000 kids received this. We actively treated many hundreds children in pain and took thousands of abscessed teeth out. Bless ‘em.

Not 2 Halfpennies To Rub Together

People here are really poor and there has been a lot of resentment towards the government. Everybody we worked with was so friendly and appreciative though. The kids, teachers and parents were lovely.

And Breathe

Communication and rapid trust building with the kids is always key. We did have lots of help from interpreters when required but the main thing is keeping eye, verbal and even tactile contact and always asking if they are OK (“cava or labass”). The other thing that is massive to show empathy and understanding is breathing. This works wonders for relaxation. We all forget to just breathe and just “be” to relax. I do not know how to spell this but the word for “breathe,” phonetically is “sniffez”. We were all saying and doing it and really elaborating on it to add a bit of humour. “Humanisation”.

Not Lost In Translation

We discussed the role of interpreters and it works best just to do the minimum to allow an “in “ for the dental team so they can start and develop a trusting relationship, heart to heart, human-to-human. One young Moroccan interpreter got it when I explained. He said “emotional content”. Bob on!! It’s all about that and humanising every step of the process, stripped right back to basics. Formal language is then secondary.

A Massive Big Thank You

A heart felt thank you to the ladies who give me knitting to take out to the poor families. You know who you are! Also thank you to everyone who has donated money, toothbrushes and toothpaste. It’s great for us all to be involved in helping people and really trying to leave a legacy of impact on peoples lives for the good.

Certificate Time

As I mentioned this was a joint venture with the local authority and many bridges were built. We had to sit through a really long speech and ceremony of certificates. My name was spelt wrong. I should have done my usual ,“ think branflakes but field instead”.

Until next time. Take care and be good.

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 24 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 humanitarian work go here now www.castleparkdental.co.uk

A Bit Of Hard Work Does You Good

“The Tooth And Nothing But The Tooth”

By Chris “Dr Smile Maker” Branfield

A Bit Of Hard Work Does You Good

Hello again. I hope that you are well. Just back from Morocco with Dental Mavericks getting people out of daily pain. My 12th trip, I think. You would think that you just get used to it but it is always emotional.  

My wife picked me up from Hull train station and to my amazement BBC radio Humberside was on in the car and it was the football commentary (my wife doesn’t do football). She was gripped by the drama of it at the end of the season. However, it was not to be for Hull City to stay up in the premier league. Here we go again! There is now the possibility of more drama and excitement trying to get back and even possible Wembley trips again. Enjoy the journey of life!

We Were Absolutely Whacked

This trip to Morocco was backed by the King’s advisor so had a licence to treat adults as well as children. There were so many people! My word, I have never worked so hard in my life. My colleagues said the same. When you treat children there it is tiring but more on an emotional level. This is because they are children having teeth removed and doing our best to look after them with a language barrier demands total concentration in this regards to building a relationship with constant eye contact, verbal contact, body language and reassurance. It is like this with adults there and with our patients at home in Cottingham but more intense over there with the children I feel. It’s all about PEOPLE. Now with throwing adults into the mix there are the same challenges but also some very difficult tooth extractions, more often than not multiple. Well, with one after the other all day your body starts to feel it. I’m not getting any younger you know. I’m not joking; some of us were ready to drop at the end of each day.

Getting Rewards

The most rewarding for me is when we went rural up into the hills. There is more proper poverty here and people cannot access a dentist at all. We saw a lot of Berber children here. Our translators had to learn a bit of Berber as they did not speak Arabic, and then teach us a few words. These were so lovely, very stoic and appreciative. One little boy I treated had 4 teeth out in one go. He was only 6 yrs old and afterwards he hugged me and clung on like a limpet, he had a smile from ear to ear. It really touched me. This is when you know you’re doing the right thing when it means so much to be out of pain.

Unusual Name

One of the Berber kids had an unusual name. He was called Tagine. Our Moroccan translators had never heard this name before and thought it rather special. Pretty much every meal we had was a tagine of something. His parents must like their food eh?

Time For A Bit Of Awe

We have couple of lovely ladies that have done kitting for us to take out with us o give to the needy. Now, I didn’t go to the maternity but a couple of midwives in our group did. It was a far cry from the facilities we have here. Babies everywhere and not very clean. They distributed some of the lovely garments that Ann had made so there will be some cosy warm babies. I must say that I would wear some of the stuff if it was in my size.

Until next time. Take care and be good.

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 24 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 humanitarian work go here now www.castleparkdental.co.uk