Rep. Peter G. Palumbo, D-Cranston, made his eighth annual trip to Nicaragua this year to provide free dental care with Northeast Volunteer Optometric Services to Humanity.

The group travels to a different village in Nicaragua each year to provide general medical care and specialty services including optometry, audiology and cataract surgery. This year, 3,987 patients received medical care in the four-day period, Jan. 15 to 18.

The dental group, which treated 308 people this year, was headed by Bristol dentist John Kerwin and Rehoboth, Mass., dentist Frank Cassarella. Besides Palumbo, the lay members included Palumbo’s cousin, Steven DePasquale, who lives in Scituate and owns a construction company; Tom Geruso, owner of the Ethan Allen furniture store on Bald Hill Road in Warwick; and Dick Stevenin, an engineer who lives in Smithfield.

Over the years, Palumbo said, he has seen the dental group move from providing emergency services such as extracting teeth and draining abscesses to treating less urgent problems, for instance, filling cavities. Now, Palumbo said, “People are walking out with a nice smile. It gives them a little self-esteem when they leave.”