A dental charity has been called out to Suffolk for the third time to treat patients who are struggling to access NHS care.
Dentaid returns to both Leiston and Bury St Edmunds to carry out emergency treatment on suffering patients.
Around 160 patients were seen by charity over the four days they spent in Leiston and Bury St Edmunds in November 2021 and February this year.
Dentaid will treat patients at Leiston’s Waterloo Centre today before moving on to The New Bury Community Centre in Bury St Edmunds tomorrow.
All procedures will be free of charge from 10am until 4pm to people who are in pain.
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End the betrayal
Steve Marsling is co-founder of Toothless in Suffolk. He helped to secure sponsorship from local councillors to finance Dentaid’s return visit to Suffolk.
‘The NHS dental service is worsening by the hour,’ he said.
‘People in the Leiston area have been without an NHS dentist for over a year. The Leiston area is one small part of a vast dental desert that has consumed the country.
‘We have already paid for treatment through our national insurance contributions, and we call upon the government to end the betrayal.’
Exhausted dentists
British Dental Association chair, Eddie Crouch added: ‘The government claims it is committed to “levelling up” dentistry. These slogans will ring hollow as long as charities are providing essential healthcare in the fifth richest country on earth.
‘Millions are going without the care they need, while exhausted dentists call it quits. What patients need from ministers now is some sense of urgency, and real commitment to save a service on the brink.’
Toothless in England is planning a National Day of Action this year. Patients will protest and lobby constituency MPs and government ministers.
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