Bring smiles back to the neighbourhood
One dentist in the jungle of El Zonte, thousands of strangers on the internet, and a Bitcoin fund that four years later still pays for every appointment.
The hands that did the work
Enrique Berrios
"Surrounded by colourful birds, mango trees, snakes and insects, and of course the blue sky and ocean."
The area's only dentist for sixteen years. His clinic is six metres by four, jungle on every side. He treated neighbours who could not pay long before anyone said the word Bitcoin to him. Every treatment in this report happened in his chair.
Watch the smiles come back
Work in the hills of El Zonte is paid by the day, and a dentist was always out of reach — some neighbours had not seen one in forty years. Then the internet showed up.
Watch with sound2,741 people
from all over the internet funded it
1.9 BTC
raised on free software. The goal was 1. Zero fees, zero middlemen
Where it went
Four years of appointments, one fund
500+
patients treated, free of charge
80+
full dental reconstructions, teeth rebuilt from nothing
300+
children given preventive care before the damage starts
From the clinic's records · drag to compare · published with permission
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