A Uitenhage dental technician who dreams of spreading healthy smiles among the needy in his region has proved that his bite is way bigger than his bark.
In November last year, 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 a fifth of the way towards achieving that goal.
Meintjes has now engineered “life changing” smiles for eight people including Kallie Prinsloo, 55, Leona Lightfoot, 35, Ntombekhaya Koloko, 39, Victor McHugh, 44, Nomthemba Nanto, 46, Melany Sias, 30, since starting out on his jaw-dropping mission.
Meintjes said while all the beneficiaries had been “unbelievably grateful”, few of the recipients’ dental woes could compare with 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 after that, and he wanted to charge me about R3000 to fix it which I didn’t have,” Sias said.
“Then in November 2014 I went to a kwarra at Pick n Pay in Uitenhage. He has a tent outside. He charged me R150, so I took my gold teeth there and he used some type of glue to glue it back in place.”
Sias said after about three months the gold fell out again. However, this time the glue used to reattach the gold pieces, caused an infection in her mouth which caused her gums to rot and resulted in Sias’ four front teeth falling out.
“I didn’t have front teeth for most of last year, then Ralph saw me and told me he could help. And the results are life changing, I got my confidence back and I now do everything with a smile,” Sias said.
Meintjes revealed he had been inspired to start his campaign after hearing about the plight of a Graaff-Reinet man, whose greatest desire was to eat steak on Christmas Day.
He contacted the man and offered him a new set of teeth. The man’s gratitude encouraged Meintjes and wife, Crystal, to register a non-profit company, Smile Ministries International, last year with the Adopt-a-Smile campaign being its flagship project.
Meintjes places ‘before’ pictures of the beneficiary on the campaign’s web page. After completing the work, an ‘after’ picture – with the fees for the work – is placed on the web page, where people are encouraged to adopt that smile at about R3000 a smile.
“The gift of dental technology has been hidden for too long. It is awesome to see the positive change in the people once they receive the dentures,” Meintjies said.
“People have forgotten the power of a smile and all it does. I believe that God’s gift to me is the ability to make people smile, and doing that is my gift to Him,” he added.
Free dentures restore smiles, change lives
In November last year, 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 a fifth of the way towards achieving that goal.
Meintjes has now engineered “life changing” smiles for eight people including Kallie Prinsloo, 55, Leona Lightfoot, 35, Ntombekhaya Koloko, 39, Victor McHugh, 44, Nomthemba Nanto, 46, Melany Sias, 30, since starting out on his jaw-dropping mission.
Meintjes said while all the beneficiaries had been “unbelievably grateful”, few of the recipients’ dental woes could compare with 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 after that, and he wanted to charge me about R3000 to fix it which I didn’t have,” Sias said.
“Then in November 2014 I went to a kwarra at Pick n Pay in Uitenhage. He has a tent outside. He charged me R150, so I took my gold teeth there and he used some type of glue to glue it back in place.”
Sias said after about three months the gold fell out again. However, this time the glue used to reattach the gold pieces, caused an infection in her mouth which caused her gums to rot and resulted in Sias’ four front teeth falling out.
“I didn’t have front teeth for most of last year, then Ralph saw me and told me he could help. And the results are life changing, I got my confidence back and I now do everything with a smile,” Sias said.
Meintjes revealed he had been inspired to start his campaign after hearing about the plight of a Graaff-Reinet man, whose greatest desire was to eat steak on Christmas Day.
He contacted the man and offered him a new set of teeth. The man’s gratitude encouraged Meintjes and wife, Crystal, to register a non-profit company, Smile Ministries International, last year with the Adopt-a-Smile campaign being its flagship project.
Meintjes places ‘before’ pictures of the beneficiary on the campaign’s web page. After completing the work, an ‘after’ picture – with the fees for the work – is placed on the web page, where people are encouraged to adopt that smile at about R3000 a smile.
“The gift of dental technology has been hidden for too long. It is awesome to see the positive change in the people once they receive the dentures,” Meintjies said.
“People have forgotten the power of a smile and all it does. I believe that God’s gift to me is the ability to make people smile, and doing that is my gift to Him,” he added.
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