Life-saving dentistry is part of the workload for Wanganui's Hadleigh Reid in the Republic of the Congo.
The 33-year-old dentist is volunteering for 10 weeks as part of the free healthcare programme brought to the nation by Mercy Ships, which operates the world's largest civilian hospital ship.
Despite the tremendous healthcare needs in the region, western African nations can provide only one dentist for every 200,000 to 1 million people. Consequently, the oral health care needs in nations like the Republic of the Congo are overwhelming, he said. According to the Dental Council of New Zealand the figure here is one dentist per 2028 people.
Mr Reid said the Mercy Ships flagship Africa Mercy visits a western African nation's port city for 10 months at the invitation of the local government. The free healthcare services delivered are from the 16,000-tonne vessel by an international volunteer crew of 450, who pay their own way for the privilege of bringing help to some of West Africa's poorest people. The much needed services include orthopaedic, ophthalmic, obstetric, and maxilla-facial surgeries, as well as burns and cleft lip and palate repair.
A dental clinic set up ashore in the port city sees hundreds of people in desperate need queuing for care daily.