Dentaid hosts third dental clinic in Suffolk amid worsening access issues
Dental charity, Dentaid, has hosted a third dental clinic in Suffolk as access issues continue to bite.
The charity, which usually provides support overseas, as well as helping out with initiatives for rural communities and the homeless and vulnerable, visited Suffolk for the third time recently to offer free dental treatment for people who can’t get an NHS appointment. Dentaid volunteers took a mobile unit to Bury St Edmunds and Leiston, which offered free services between 10am and 4pm. The charity visited the county in November and February to help to plug gaps in NHS provision.
The town of Leiston has hit the headlines several times during the pandemic, with patients left with no NHS dentist after two practices closed unexpectedly. A campaign group, Toothless in Suffolk, subsequently launched to call for urgent improvements in the system. The group has now expanded across England.
Despite the campaign, Leiston still has no dental surgery and as yet, alternative providers have not been found to offer NHS dental care. NHS England has confirmed that a number of new practices will open in other parts of the county this summer.
Co-founder of Toothless in Suffolk, Steve Marsling, said that he had been part of a team involved in securing funding for Dentaid’s visit from local councillors. He described the area as a “small part of a vast dental desert” and added that the “NHS dental service is worsening by the hour.”
Chair of the British Dental Association, Eddie Crouch, accused the government of coming up with slogans, which would “ring hollow” as long as charities are providing dental services for people who can’t access NHS care in one of the world’s richest nations.
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