The Dentaid mobile dental unit was parked outside Dewsbury town hall on Saturday, January 20 offering free dental care for people in pain who were finding it difficult to access NHS dental treatment. The clinic ran from 10am – 4pm and 20 people were waiting for treatment before it opened. A team of volunteer dentists and dental nurses triaged, screened and gave local anesthetic to the patients in the town hall before they went outside to the mobile dental unit for treatment. In total the team saw 38 patients and 17 of them had teeth extracted. They were all in acute pain with toothache. Dentaid has been supported by Kirklees Council which provided £7060 funding for the project.
We have now run 14 mobile dental clinics at schools, community centres and the town hall and have seen 356 people since last September. The charity has also provided oral health education sessions in local schools as part of its BrightBites programme. On Saturday 27th, families who are members of a Downs Syndrome support group will be able to attend a presentation about oral health and toothbrushing and explore the mobile dental unit in a relaxed setting. Dentaid CEO Andy Evans said: “We are so pleased we have been able to provide free emergency dental care and oral health advice for so many people in Dewsbury and thank you to our incredible team of volunteers who have helped get so many people out of pain.”
