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INUVIK - Class has been dismissed for the weekend at Sir Alexander Mackenzie elementary school.

While the hallways flood with excited children, three girls pop into their dentist's office to say hello.

Sir Alexander Mackenzie elementary student Jase Blake, 10, playfully reverses roles with the school's dental therapist Simon Jozzy on Friday. - Andrew Rankin/NNSL photo

Simon Jozzy quickly wheels around and with an ear-to-ear smile pleases the trio with an abrupt greeting.

"Hello girls."

They exchange warm parting words, and the girls are off.

"When I walk down the hallway the some students hug me and say 'hello Mr. Jozzy.' That's worth more than gold," he said.

Having such a warm way with students, it's easy to understand why the dental therapist founded a local group dedicated to providing basic dentistry to people living in developing countries.

Named Healthy Smiles Society, it's made up of dental professionals from Inuvik and other NWT communities as well as local members who support the cause through fundraising.

The idea was born out of a 2004 visit to his homeland of Zimbabwe, where he saw desperate poverty. Scarred by the images of neglect, he resolved to do something about it.

"Wherever I went there was a lot of pain and suffering," said Jozzy. "There were absolutely no services in the rural areas so I said to myself 'what can I do to help?'"

A few months after his return he wrote about a dozen letters to friends and colleagues in the dentistry field as well as local business people, looking for direction and support.

Both came. Members met every week for two months. The society took shape, complete with a business plan.

Its goal is to raise money to purchase a mobile dental clinic and to travel to Third World rural communities to provide basic dental services.

The group has since become a government-registered charity, which means it issues tax receipts for donations.

As the Beaufort Delta's supervisor of regional dental programs, Jozzy is required to make constant visits to communities and schools performing dental work and educational clinics, but he manages to find family time and fundraising time.

Next month Jozzy will be travelling to South Africa's Mpumalanga province for two weeks to provide basic dental services with an Alberta-based volunteer dentistry group called Kindness in Action.

He hasn't given up hope on Healthy Smiles Society. Jozzy said it's one way of giving back for the help he received from one person during his immigration to Canada. Despite the poverty that can be found locally and in the rest of Canada, he said it's much worse in developing countries.

Fellow Inuvik resident Paulo Flieg helped the society with its business plan. He couldn't agree more with Jozzy's sentiments, but he hopes his friend's efforts will be the start of something big.

"It's fantastic," he said. "There's finally someone representing the society going to Africa. It's really encouraging and it's a big boost in motivation for the organization."

It's the start of something big, said Jozzy.

"It's a slow process, but I know one day it will work."