LIFE-CHANGING GIFT: Dental technician Ralph Meintjes, 45, left, with car guard Victor McHugh, 44, who says he has not been able to stop smiling since he received his new dentures. Pictures: TREMAINE VAN AARDT
Toothy grins for those who need it most
A UITENHAGE dental technician who dreams of spreading healthy smiles among the needy in his region has proved that his bite is bigger than his bark.
In November, Adopt-a-Smile campaign founder and dental technician Ralph Meintjes, 45, set out to achieve his vision of providing 40 sets of dentures for needy people in the Uitenhage district.
He is now one-fifth of the way towards achieving that goal.
Meintjes has engineered “lifechanging” smiles for eight people – Kallie Prinsloo, 55, Gertrude Dlongwana, 57, Leona Lightfoot, 35, Ntombekhaya Koloko, 39, Victor McHugh, 44, Nomathemba Nanto, 46, Melany Sias, 30, and Nontinge Slengile, 63, since starting out on his jaw-dropping mission.
Meintjes said while all the beneficiaries had been unbelievably grateful, few of the recipients’ dental woes had compared to those of Uitenhage petrol station attendant and mother of three, Sias, who had her gold teeth replaced twice after a botched repair caused her gums to rot.
“In 2010, I went to put in gold L’s in my four front teeth. Then about four years later the gold fell out. So I went to a dentist and he wanted to charge me about R3 000 to fix it, which I didn’t have,” Sias said.
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