New charity dental units!
Dentaid The Dental Charity has three new dental units in its fleet. The new vehicles will help more people experiencing homelessness and other underserved communities access life-changing dental care.
The first vehicle has been donated from Bupa Dental Care and is being used for the charity’s work across the south after being launched in Winchester.
Chief dental officer for Bupa Insurance Neil Sikka volunteered on the first clinic.
“Dentaid is an important charity and we are honoured to work with them on such a meaningful project. It’s a privilege to volunteer onboard the new unit and see the visible difference it has made to the patients we’ve treated. We look forward to continuing our work with Dentaid and supporting future initiatives.”
The next new mobile dental unit has been named in loving memory of Kimberley Finlayson, who sadly died from Covid-19 in 2020. Her husband and co-founder at FMC Ken Finlayson, climbed Mount Kilimanjaro with his friend Tim Molony last year and raised more than £55,000 towards the new vehicle. Other funding was provided by the Straumann Bike Ride and a grant from the Green Hall Foundation. The Straumann riders rode 500 miles in 5 days across northern Spain raising in the region of £80,000.
A third vehicle will be on the road next month thanks to support from Septodont. The vehicle will enable Dentaid The Dental Charity to establish a hub in the south east in response to a growing number of clinics in Kent, Essex and East Sussex.
“We are incredibly grateful and very excited to have these new mobile dental units out on the road providing outreach dental services for those who need it most,” said communications director, Jill Harding. “We have been very fortunate to benefit from amazing fundraising initiatives and corporate support which has made this possible. Demand for our work is growing all the time and thanks to these new vehicles and the clinicians who volunteer on them we’ll be well placed to help more people access dental care.”