Imran helps fill the gap in dental care

Imran (back, right) with colleagues and staff from the Kashmir Orphans Relief Trust orphanage

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A DENTIST from Oldham is on a mission to help bring a smile to faces in Kashmir.

Imran Asghar, from Glodwick, is part of a team of five UK dentists treating people with dental problems in the Pakistani-administered region of Azad Kashmir — and all free.

Two years ago they established the Dental Aid Network charity, and are now setting up a permanent clinic in the Kashmiri city of Mirpur, which will be part of a new hospital.

Imran (27), who works at Deeplish Dental Practice in Rochdale, said: “For some time I have been wanting to do some dental charity work to give something back. When this opportunity came up I couldn’t let it go.”

The clinic will be run by volunteers who managed to obtain equipment from a dental company in Islamabad.

For five days Imran’s team diagnosed and treated all the children at the Kashmir Orphans Relief Trust and spent time talking about oral health. Their trip also involved a workshop and lecture with many local dentists from the area - something Imran is hoping can continue, to help raise Pakistani dental standards.

The clinic will be run by the team from the UK with charity donations, with the aim of having dentists all year round helping to take care of the population’s oral health.

Imran added: “A lot of people in Oldham are originally from Azad Kashmir so this would really hit home.”

As well as the Kashmir clinic, the charity is hoping to open a volunteer-run clinic in South Africa. Dentists interested in helping can contact Imran at: imran_asghar_uk@hotmail.com or call him on 07983-633950.

Info: www.dentalaidnetwork.org.