Brewers were thrilled to be able to donate £500 to Dentaid, to help them redecorate a vital space to carry out their life changing work.

Dentaid, The Dental Charity, provides outreach dental care for people experiencing homelessness and other socially excluded groups across the UK. There are 8 mobile charity dental units that will be used to deliver 500 clinics in the UK this year from the Channel Islands to Scotland and Belfast to Norwich.

Every clinic has a volunteer dentist and dental nurse who give up their time to help some of the most vulnerable people in their community to access dental care. Their patients include people experiencing homelessness, survivors of abuse, cancer patients, fishing communities, refugees, families living in poverty and people living with and overcoming addiction.

Treatment is free for all patients and they believe that accessing dental care can help them feel more confident and improve their chances of moving on to a new chapter in their lives.

The pandemic compounded an already existing problem for post radiotherapy patients in accessing dental care as many dentists in practice are quite reluctant to provide treatment, often due to a lack of training and unsure as to guidelines and protocols for the management of this specialist group of patients. In short, radiotherapy may attack the cancer, but it has a disastrous effect on the gums, teeth and mouth. As a result, they are almost falling into observed neglect. The partnership between Dentaid and University Hospital Southampton (UHS) has funded two years of clinics, one every two weeks, for head and neck cancer patients referred by the UHS.

Although most of the clinics are delivered on the charity dental units outside soup kitchens, hostels, night shelters and community buildings etc some of the patients, such as people living with head and neck cancer who have access to transport, can see a dentist on a unit parked outside their head office in Totton.

Prior to Brewers’ support, the waiting room had unmatching, donated armchairs that were impossible to clean and didn’t have suitable armrests for patients to push themselves up from. The room was cold and in a poor state of decoration.

“Brewers’ support has enabled us to refurbish and redecorate the space to make it more welcoming for our patients who are living with head and neck cancer and require dental care. We have also purchased three new chairs that are suitable for clinical waiting rooms and can be wiped down to reduce cross-infection risk. The room is now warm, bright and more professional and we are very grateful for Brewers’ support,” adds Jill Harding, Head of Communications and Corporate Relations.