DESS® and LAF Salone: Second year of collaboration for oral health in Sierra Leone

For the second year in a row, at DESS® we have renewed our collaboration with LAF Salone, a non-profit organisation working to improve oral health and overall wellbeing in vulnerable communities in Sierra Leone.

This edition also had a very special element: our colleague David Cuervo (DESS® Technical Support) travelled with the team and contributed his skills, supporting the dental and educational activities carried out on the ground and living an intense and deeply rewarding experience.

LAF Salone was founded by five dentists with a strong connection to the country and its people, with the aim of transforming lives through dental care and educational programmes. The project began after a volunteering expedition to Saint John of God Hospital (Mabesseneh) in May 2023, an experience that encouraged its founders — Marc Algueró, Maria Luisa Augè, Núria Farré, Alba Hernández and Silvia Clos — to build a sustainable, recurring initiative with two expeditions per year.

The name says it all too: “LAF Salone” means “Smile Sierra Leone”, reflecting a mission that went beyond clinical care and sought to empower communities through resources and education.

During the previous expedition, the LAF Salone team brought dental care to areas where access to a dentist was extremely limited. The work took place both in healthcare settings — such as Saint John of God Hospital (Mabesseneh) and the area of the Clarisas Misioneras Sisters (Milla 91) — and in remote communities, with interventions directly in villages and check-ups in schools.

That first year also highlighted something essential: the project’s sustainability depended on strengthening prevention and education, training students and local staff to consolidate oral hygiene habits and good practices.

From DESS®, we contributed at the time with hygiene materials and community support (toothbrushes, toothpaste and soaps, as well as school supplies and recreational resources), understanding that oral health is also built through education.

In this new edition, we took a step further and reinforced operational support so that the clinical and educational work could be viable day to day.

On this occasion, we supported the mission by providing essential equipment, including:

• Treatment chairs
• A generator
• 10 suitcases to transport all the necessary materials and facilitate logistics on site

In addition, David’s involvement from the DESS® Technical Support team was key to assisting with the deployment of the equipment and helping operations on the ground run more efficiently.

This reinforcement addressed a very concrete need that the project had already identified: in contexts where infrastructure is limited, having power and the right equipment makes the difference between “being there” and “being able to treat”.

One of the most inspiring aspects of LAF Salone is its commitment to continuity: it is not a one-off action, but a project that returns, learns and evolves, incorporating training, materials and partnerships to expand its impact over time.

For DESS®, being part of this initiative for the second year strengthens our belief that sustained collaboration is what truly drives change: when each edition brings new learnings and each return adds resources, experience and greater capacity to respond.

At DESS®, we believe a company’s impact is not measured only by what it develops, but also by what it contributes to society. That is why our actions in ESG (Environmental, Social & Governance) aim to turn our values into real commitments.

Collaborations like this one with LAF Salone, as well as initiatives such as our donation to the Family Support Programme at Hospital Sant Joan de Déu, reflect the same approach: supporting projects with tangible impact, focused on health, wellbeing and supporting the communities that need it most.

Thank you to LAF Salone and to everyone who makes it possible — both on the ground and behind the scenes — for showing, once again, that oral health can also be a powerful tool for change when it is combined with commitment, resources and continuity.

If you’d like to dive deeper into this collaboration and see how it has evolved year after year, we have published several blog posts sharing the context, the impact, and the work carried out on the ground.

You can access all related posts (including future updates), visit the blog search page: see all articles about this collaboration

Would you like to learn about more initiatives like this? Follow us on our social media channels (Instagram, LinkedIn, Youtube, etc.) to stay up to date with all the ESG actions and projects we drive at DESS®, with the goal of creating a positive and sustainable impact in our community.