Working with Dentaid
Dentaid The Dental Charity, have been visiting our projects to bring a smile back to our residents faces. We are extremely grateful for Dentaid’s work and the support that they have given to our residents over the last year. They have provided 17 mobile clinics across our services in Southampton providing 369 treatments and putting a smile on the faces of 93 patients.
Simon, a resident at our Patrick House hostel and pictured below said:
Having been street homeless for some time before coming to Patrick House I hadn’t seen a dentist for some time and was in pain from a cracked tooth. Not only did the dentaid team fill the tooth but they cleaned and polished my teeth afterwards which felt great.
And our Project Manager, Alex Dawson from Patrick House told me:
“The work that dentaid do at Patrick House is so valuable to our residents. Homelessness can provide a huge barrier to accessing essential services that many people take for granted and the care that Dentaid’s team provide is hugely appreciated. Many of our clients are dealing with complex trauma and have intense support needs, and the patience and compassion shown to them by Dentaid’s volunteers really helps encourage them to get the treatment that they need.”
Dentaid’s dental units travel the UK providing outreach dental clinics for people who struggle to access treatment.
They help vulnerable people who’ve been living with the misery of toothache and restore their self-esteem by giving them more confidence in their smile knowing that oral healthcare can help patients move on to a new chapter in their lives.
A representative from Dentaid told me:
“We know that dental care can play a small but important role in helping people experiencing homelessness move on to a new chapter in their lives. It’s about so much more than people’s teeth. We want to help people feel more confident in their smiles and re-engage with dental care. By bringing our mobile dental unit to SSJ we hope we are breaking down the mental, physical and practical barriers that people face in accessing care.
Our volunteers help people out of dental pain but also listen to our patients and help them to understand more about dental health. We know that if people are in pain or feel they can’t smile or look someone in the eye when they speak to them it can really affect their confidence. We know that dentistry really can make a difference to people’s lives and we’re delighted to be working with SSJ to provide this.
Dentaid have received funding to continue the project for another year and we are really looking forward to working with them to reach more of our residents and other vulnerable people across Southampton.