All in a years work

Pressures in NHS dentistry, coupled with the cost of living crisis, the aftermath of Covid and increased awareness of the charity’s work means there has never been so much demand for Dentaid’s clinics.

Last year the dental charity ran 174 UK clinics; this year it will be close to 280. With three new vehicles joining the fleet in 2023, the charity predicts that next year its mobile dental units will be used 500 times. Thanks to Dentaid’s volunteers, thousands of people experiencing homelessness, and other hard-to-reach groups are no longer suffering the misery of untreated dental pain.

But Dentaid’s success can’t only be measured by the number of people it’s been able to treat. The charity has delivered care for a diverse range of patients and the scope of its work is expanding all the time. In the last 12 months new clinics for survivors of modern slavery looked after children, victims of domestic violence, people battling addiction, asylum seekers, and families experiencing poverty, have been added to the charity’s programme of work.