New dental service supports people overcoming addiction in Newport

People overcoming drug and alcohol addiction have been able to access dental care and oral health advice in Newport thanks to a new charity clinic from Dentaid The Dental Charity.

Our mobile dental unit Clover visited the city for the first time on July 29th and 30th as part of a partnership with the Gwent Drug and Alcohol Service (GDAS), supported by Kaleidoscope, Barod and G4S.

GDAS users received care and support from a volunteer dentist and dental nurse on board a mobile dental unit. Treatments included fillings, extractions, scale and polish, oral cancer screening and dental health advice.  The charity will be returning for four further outreach dental clinics in August and September.

Our fleet of eleven mobile dental units travel the country offering free dental treatments for people facing health inequalities, including those experiencing homelessness and poverty, vulnerable women, survivors of abuse, refugees and asylum seekers, cancer patients and fishing communities.

Dentaid works in conjunction with partner organisations and many patients have gone years without seeing a dentist and are suffering the misery of untreated toothache.

Jill Harding, head of fundraising and communications at Dentaid The Dental Charity said: “Drug and alcohol addiction can have hugely negative effects on someone’s oral health and can also result in barriers to accessing treatment.

“We know that for people overcoming addiction, dental pain can cause additional challenges and complications and we know that accessing treatment can have a hugely beneficial impact.

“We are so pleased to be bringing our charity dental unit to Newport for the first time, we know there’s huge demand for dental services and we look forward to returning soon.”

Gavin Jones, Head of Operations at GDAS, added: “We decided to use Dentaid because of the stigma around our client base and them attending dentists in the local area, it’s impossible for them to get an appointment and their teeth are in a bad way because of things like heroin use. You’ve set up at our main hub in Newport which is a prime location to allow our clients to access dental care actually where they come every day.

“We prescribe OST (Opioid Substitution Treatment) to about 220 people every day, so we thought this was a good location to start out with Dentaid.

“The response has been really positive, so far I think we’ve done really well. We’ve had quite a few people go on and have treatments.”

For dentists and dental nurses who would like to volunteer for Dentaid at their Newport clinics, or at others across South Wales and the West of England, a full list of vacancies is available here.