Kismet Dentist/Photographer Carolyn Stern visits a Northern hill tribe in Burma with a knapsack of toothbrushes and floss.

 

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Every year since she graduated from Dental School in 1985 Caroline Stern has taken three to six weeks out of  her busy life to travel alone to a third world country and there, with a local guide, go deep into its heartland to introduce dental and medical hygiene to the tribes, and mostly to the children. Armed with toothpaste and toothbrushes and basic medical supplies (alcohol wipes, bandages) she instructs the locals how to improve their health and their lives.

Following are some of the pictures she took this Spring of the Pintauk Enn tribe from Northern Myanmar in Burma.

In her own words:  A HILL TRIBE IN NORTHERN MYANMAR....SHOWED UP WITH MY KNAPSACK OF  TOOTHBRUSHES AND FLOSS....THEY ALMOST LAUGHED ME OUT OF THE  VILLAGE....THEY BLACKEN THEIR TEETH WITH BURNT WOOD AS A SIGN OF BEAUTY....I TRIED TO CONVINCE THEM THAT THEY COULD HAVE BLACK HEALTHY TEETH....ONLY THE KIDS WERE GAME....PERHAPS I SHOULD START A NEW  TREND.... BLACK SMILES INSTEAD OF BLEACHED CHICKLETS....FROM THE  JOURNAL OF THE VOYAGING GUM GODDESS....