About
Dr. Tumi Raphela

I love transforming people’s smiles using various treatment options to suit the patient’s needs. I do not believe in limiting treatment choices due to the area of residence, and this is where I aim to make a difference. Regardless of your background and social status, you deserve the best, most confident smile your dentist can give you. I love conventional braces and the miracle of transforming crowded or spaced teeth into a perfect smile. I also had the privilege of training for clear aligners using the Spark aligners program from Ormco. Clear aligners are the future of dentistry.

I opened a private practice in 2009 in Belfast but later moved to Burgersfort in late 2010. I moved the practice to Burgersfort, a small mining town in Limpopo, in 2011, and have been working here ever since. We opened our second branch in Lydenburg a few months after the lockdown in 2020, and we have been growing ever since. Together with my colleagues, we run a digital dental clinic in both Burgersfort and Lydenburg. This allows us to teach and show patients their teeth on a computer, clearly demonstrate problems, and discuss treatment plans using their images on a digital smile design application.

My drive and passion for private dental care stem from the idea of bringing quality advanced dental care to remote areas, mines, and farms, and teaching our communities about good oral hygiene practices at home. While working in government, I saw many patients placed on waiting lists in district tertiary hospitals, which are often a few hours away from our remote areas. These waiting lists were for procedures such as braces, dentures for elderly patients, tongue ties in toddlers, reduction of gummy smiles, and more. This motivated me to open a practice to bring advanced quality dental care to our communities at an affordable price.