Teeth Relief History
Dr Sharon Rankin set up the Sunnymede Trust in 1989 when she returned from voluntary work in Zambia. The Trust recruited volunteer dentists to visit rural communities in Africa, offer treatments and help to train local health workers. Treatments usually involved the immediate relief of pain, most commonly through tooth extraction.
As the Trust continued to provide this ‘service’, we wanted to make a greater contribution towards a sustained improvement in oral health. This was achieved in 2007 when we produced the Teeth Relief Oral Health Training Manual. Now when dentists leave, they don’t take all the knowledge away with them.
Promoting Good Oral Care
‘We give health workers the confidence to include ‘the mouth’ in their repertoire of health indicators and expand their knowledge to promote good oral care across whole communities’
Sharon Rankin,
Chair of Sunnymede Trust