ROCKY HILL, Conn. -- A husband-and-wife team of dentists is preparing to leave for what they call "the worse vacation they'll ever love."

The couple, Drs. Mary and Edward Pergiovanni, works out of Family Dental Care in Rocky Hill and will soon spend their annual week-long vacation in Central America performing dental work.

"We go and set up a clinic setting -- usually it's a police station or a church, a school, a barn -- any kind of facility with a roof overhead. There are usually windows, but no glass, no doors, no electricity," said Edward Pergiovanni.

The couple brings a team with them, which includes a medical group as well, and sees thousands of patients throughout the week.

Nancy Kiely said she has gone on several of the trips.

"They walk for hours just to come and see us and then they end up waiting in line for hours to see us," she said. "We see over 1,000 people every week."

Mary Pergiovanni said that she was the first to travel to Honduras and that her passion for the people was enough to persuade others in Connecticut to join her.

Nancy Kiely said the upcoming journey will be her seventh time traveling with the group, which consists of about 40 people.

The group, Little Friends International, was formed when Mary Pergiovanni reached out to her church, the Corpus Christi Roman Catholic Church in Wethersfield, and asked if anyone would be interested in going on or supporting a dental mission to a third-world country.

Mary Pergiovanni said Honduras was selected as the location because two of the church's members had adopted children from a Honduras orphanage run by a Catholic nun -- Sister Teresita.

Mary Pergiovanni said that through Sister Teresita, the group was able to arrange their trips.

Each member of Little Friends International pays their own way to Honduras .

"There are physicians and nurses, as well as the dentists and -- thank goodness -- lots of helpers," Mary Pergiovanni said.

The group uses donated equipment, medicine and supplies that the Pergiovannis collected and shipped to Honduras.

"We'll have portable chairs line up with portable units and adult helpers and teenage helpers and all sterilized equipment with flashlights as well as generator-propelled dental equipment," said Edward Pergiovanni.

Dr. Thomas Gworek, a Wethersfield dentist, has also joined the group.

"You see people that might have not been to the dentist maybe ever, so you see a lot more neglect. You see young people … that have bad decay in their front teeth," he said.

Of the thousands of patients the couple has treated in Honduras , they said it is the tale of Joselito -- or Lito as they call him -- that stands out the most.

"He was riding his bike and I happened to look at his face … I stopped and did a double take," Mary Pergiovanni said. "Eventually he came to sit down in our clinic and we asked him, 'Can we help you? What's wrong with your teeth?' And he said, 'Don't fix my teeth, please fix my face.'"

Pergiovanni said that Joselito had a condition known as hairy Nevis. Members of the group took photos of him and sent them to the Healing The Children organization and received approval to bring him to the Untied States for treatment.

"He's already been to the U.S. now four times and has had three surgeries. It's changed his life, but it's also saved his life because without these surgeries he would have died," said Kiely. "This would have turned into melanoma and it would have killed him."

Members of Little Friends International said the group is always looking for more volunteers to go to Honduras and that it is also in need of money, medicines, wheelchairs, crutches and other supplies.

For more information about volunteering or donating to the group, visit its Web site.

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