Navid Tahir explains why he and the team at Whitworth Dental Care and Park House Dental are supporting the work Dental Mavericks carries out.
Our mission
We at Whitworth Dental Care and Park House Dental have supported Dental Mavericks to help give dental aid to the local communities in the Rif Mountains of Morocco.
Our aim
Dental Mavericks provides dental care to the local population. As well as providing dental stock and equipment for future use.
Our long-term aim in future years is to help fund a dental clinic for Dental Mavericks beneficiaries in the Rif Mountains.
About us and why we are committing to this type of work
Whitworth Dental Care and Park House Dental has provided dental care for many years. We have a focus on preventative care and dental care for children.
Both practices are accredited training practices. We help to help to pass on the skills we have learned to others. And we plan to take this further in our charity work.
COVID impact
The practices supported a team of three people to go to Morocco and provide much needed dental care and dental supplies for the local population. Many of the local children live in rural areas with poor access to dental care.
Volunteering in the first round of aid work was Dr Navid Tahir, Joanna Sobecka and Ammarah Ougradar.
They have been very committed to Project Morocco. They funded their own travel and accommodation. All funds raised were donated to Dental Mavericks for charity work.
The Eve Branson Project and travelling to Morocco was unfortunately called off due to an increase in the COVID death rate in the mountain regions of Morocco. The team were concerned that the stock and equipment donated by companies may go past its expiry dates and were still eager to make use of their time.
Spanish clinic build
Cally Gedge at Dental Mavericks then liaised with Navid Tahir for the team to have meetings in Malaga, Spain for the building of a clinic and to deliver all items raised.
Upon arrival the team donated the 130 kilos of stock and equipment to Dental Mavericks. This included donations of:
- Masks, visors, aprons – from Henry Schein, Whitworth and Parkhouse Dental
- Local anaesthetics – from Septodont
- GIC Fuji 9 and temporary dressings – from GC Fuji
- Fluoride varnish – from Henry Schein
- Toothpaste and toothbrush models – from Colgate
- Toothbrushes and stickers – from Henry Schein.
The teams aim was to raise £10,000 this year. However, we managed to raise a total of £11,716.67 including Gift Aid.
The team successfully completed a walk in August 2021 up Mount Snowden to help raise funds.
Cally and Navid then spent time performing multiple meetings in Spain and to Morocco using Zoom in order to plan the clinical build in Morocco.
Phase two and the next few year’s plans are now to raise more funds and help the Moroccan community of Tazouka in the Rif Mountain area to build a clinic and maintain this over the years to come.
The meetings so far have been very successful. We are gaining some land to hopefully start a build in the Tazouka region.
Team member reasons
Dr Navid Tahir (Nav)
I am the principal dentist at Whitworth Dental Care (Rochdale) and Park House Dental (Accrington).
I have spent my educational and working career in healthcare. And I’m committed to providing dental care to the local community, whilst also teaching other dentists and dental nurses to do the same.
I have four boys and was blessed with a baby daughter, Fatima Noor Tahir, in September 2019.
Sadly she passed away after two weeks. I have started charity work in the name of my daughter and am committed to providing care for people in areas of need.
I am looking forward to helping children in Morocco in collaboration with Dental Mavericks.
Joanna Sobecka
I have been working as the head nurse at Whitworth Dental Care for a number of years.
I recently lost my beloved mother to cancer. My mother was always loving, caring and tried to help everybody around her. I admired her way of living.
Now I have an opportunity to help children in need in Morocco and make a real difference to their lives in the same way my mother would have done.
Ammarah Ougradar
My passion for helping people first began when I was involved in a food distribution project for Syrian refugees in Turkey.
Working alongside an amazing team with a passion to help people torn away from everything they once knew made me realise how blessed my life is. The love I developed in such a short space of time for the children who had suffered so much but still held their arms out to me with beautiful smiles changed my life.
Dental Mavericks
Dental Mavericks has worked over 12 years helping communities around the world who need dental support.
For more information on Dental Mavericks and what they do please click on the following link: www.dentalmavericks.org.
