Dentaid returns to Bury St Edmunds as frustration grows over lack of NHS dental provision
A dental charity has returned to Bury St Edmunds today with demand once again high and patients calling for change and more funding to NHS dentistry.
Dentaid, which offers free emergency dental clinics to people who are not registered with a dentist and are suffering the misery of toothache, has set up at The Thomas Clarkson Centre in Hospital Road.
With the service opening at 10am, within the first hour people were queueing outside and around 50 people were on a waiting list to hopefully be seen.
Jill Harding, communications director for Dentaid who was helping on the day, said: "Last time we saw a huge demand for our emergency charity dental services here, we saw 73 people over the two days of clinics we ran in November.
"But we know there were many people that we did not get to see who still needed our help. So thanks to the town council and Suffolk County Council we have got some funding to come back and help more people.
Volunteer dentists and dental nurses were on site but also helping people to get seen were Bury St Edmunds Town Councillors Diane Hind and Donna Higgins.
Cllr Higgins, who volunteered to help the last time Dentaid was in town, said: "I was in the unfortunate situation then of having to turn people away. Actually I had to turn an NHS nurse away, which absolutely gutted me because to be in pain doing that job is horrendous.
"So a group of town councillors got together and said we had some money left over in our locality budget, if we pool it we could pay and get some additional visits. So we have raised enough money to do this first visit and a second one where we are waiting for a date on that."
On the situation in the town regarding dentists, Cllr Hind said: "It is scandalous that in this day and age that we should be resorting to this. The stories from people we have been hearing are horrendous because they cannot get a NHS dentist.
"The situation is just terrible. It is inconceivable to me that a country like ours is in this position, but I am just glad that as town councillors we were actually able to help however many people are here today. We have 50 on the list and hopefully we will get to see them all."
One of the patients seen was Vernon Holden, of Bury, who had toothache for two months before receiving two extractions today.
He said: "The pain has been so bad and I have been relying on over the counter painkillers. I tried 40 dentists in the area - most recommended to me by the 111 service - but they all said they were not taking NHS patients service with the furthest being in Ipswich.
"Dentaid is a brilliant service, they are a godsend and brilliant people, but I worry in the future there will be people who rely on private dentists and then all the rest who will rely on charity dentists like this.
"We seriously need more money pumped into the NHS and into dentists as people like us should not have to relying on things like Dentaid to help us out."
