They say if you see someone without a smile, give them one of yours. Brazilian dentist Dr Felipe Rossi is doing the exact thing as he travels the world to fix the teeth of less-fortunate people for free. Dr Rossi has founded an NGO called 'Por1sorriso' and is traveling the world to give poor and underprivileged their smiles back by fixing their teeth.
"Before surgery, my life was just a black hole. I spent years not being able to smile in pictures and it was always humiliating because people taking pictures in a group setting kept saying, 'smile' and I couldn't do it," Terri Rimmer, one of the patients Dr. Rossi treated told Bored Panda.
"When I put my dentures in for the first time and went into the bathroom at the dentist I just kept looking at myself in the mirror and smiling. It was like my face was plugged in after all these years!"
Trimmer is one of the hundreds of people Dr. Rossie has treated for free in Brazil, Kenya, Mozambique, and a few other countries across the world. Dr Rossi's NGO has over 4,000 volunteers and in one of his Instagram posts, he mentioned that his team has to transport around two tons of equipment.
Propagating health and well-being in regions of social vulnerability
"Propagate health and well-being through humanized dentistry and medicine, in regions of social vulnerability," is the mission of Dr. Rossi's NGO 'Por1Sorriso'.
The NGO promotes quality health for communities without access to basic healthcare and operates mainly in the African continent. The NGO primarily runs of public donations. However, it has not been easy for Dr. Rossi to attend to thousands of requests he receives every day.
"I am one ... there are 210 million people, more than 300 thousand dentists...." he writes on Twitter asking people not to tag him in requests for help.
While Dr Rossi continues to treat poor people for free, there are dentists who overcharge their patients amid the coronavirus pandemic and he has a message for them.
"Keep the name ... of all the dentists who are overpricing gloves, masks, epis, disposable aprons... don't forget to charge ALL that harm the dental class and enrich the costs of TRAGEDY. This will pass ... these attitudes can never be forgotten!" he said in one of his tweets in Spanish.
