In June 2025 I had the wonderful opportunity to spend almost two weeks on board the Vine Trust ship, Forth Hope, sailing up the Peruvian Amazon river from Iquitos to Indianna working in the dental clinic . Having spent over 30 years working as a general dental practitioner and after recently retiring I felt that I should do something with the skills that I learned both as a clinician, VT dental trainer and VT advisor. The opportunity arose when my university friend’s son and his flatmate informed me that they had booked to do their dental elective with the Vine Trust on the Forth Hope and so we agreed that I would travel with them to Peru to help with their elective experience.

We met in Amsterdam airport then flew to Lima where, after a crazy taxi ride, we spent one night in a hotel where we met some more of the volunteers before flying to Iquitos. We were met at the airport by the wonderful Frank Guardia, a lively and enthusiastic member of the local team who ensured we were looked after throughout our visit. Our first day was spent seeing the sites of Iquitos with Frank as our guide and zooming around from place to place on Tuk Tuks. On the second day we joined the ship where we met the crew, had our induction and ship safety briefing before sailing to our first village.

Usually patients arrived on board around 7.00am and were then triaged depending on their needs to see the doctor, dentist or both as required. Clinics started around 8:15am and we worked our way through the list of patients carrying out a mix of composite fillings and tooth extractions.

The dental clinic has two treatment chairs which meant that two patients could be seen at the same time and we worked through the list of patients until everyone had been seen. It was a very rewarding time with lots of tooth extractions and fillings being carried out over the time we spent on the ship. People were very grateful to be relieved of their dental pain as there were no dentists or doctors in most of the villages that we visited and for many people the nearest help would mean a long journey in a motorised canoe to the city of Iquitos.

Highlights of the trip were the fantastic team of crew and translators on board the ship, the wonderful team of medical and dental volunteers that were part of the trip, the evening games (which were very competitive!) and the food! What the cook was able to produce in the galley was truly amazing.

- Stewart McLean