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Dental charity Dentaid visits Suffolk for fourth time

BBC Dentist treating patientBBC
The charity Dentaid, which aims to help people across the world access dental care, is in Suffolk for people who cannot receive treatment from a dentist

People are turning to a dental charity after struggling to pay charges.

Dentaid, which runs pop-up clinics, has returned to Suffolk for its fourth visit to help people who need emergency treatment.

One user told the BBC he needed the service as his "teeth are crumbling" and his "gums are bleeding".

Local councillors asked the dental charity to visit after people struggling to find NHS dental care contacted them.

Residents in Haverhill and Hadleigh can visit the clinic on Thursday and Friday.

Stephen James
Stephen James said he was facing a £2,000 bill to fix his teeth

Stephen James from Haverhill moved to the area in 2016 and has never gotten an NHS dentist.

"All my front teeth are crumbling, my gums are bleeding. I need about five or six fillings," he said.

"The amount of money they want for me to fix my teeth is about £2,000."

The 52-year-old said there was "no way" he could afford to pay for dental treatment.

Blaze Champion
Blaze Champion said spending hundreds of pounds on dental treatment was "not plausible"

Blaze Champion, 27, lost "over half a tooth" a few years ago, but he said he was taken off registers for NHS dentists.

"When you've got mental health issues, it's hard to sort-of put yourself out there to the dentist," he said.

"With the cost of living how it is, it's just not plausible for most people to spend several hundred pounds getting a tooth taken out right now."

Mr Champion said he had been looking at "anything I could", including selling things, to try to raise "a little bit of money".

Jill Harding
Jill Harding said a lot of the charity's work was with homeless people and vulnerable groups

Volunteer Jill Harding said the clinics come to areas with "particular need".

"We've been to Suffolk before and we know that people in this particular community need our help," she said.

She added the need for the charity's dental services had "absolutely skyrocketed" since the start of the pandemic.

"The phone never stops ringing. We get requests for new clinics all the time," she said.

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