‘Pay if you can’ project

Dentists are volunteering their time to help the most vulnerable people in their local communities who find it difficult to access NHS dental care.  The Real Junk Tooth Project has been launched by international dental charity Dentaid which is committed to eradicating dental pain across the world.  At Dewsbury Dental Centre on Thursday a steady stream of patients had teeth extracted, ending months of misery for many of them.

Claire’s story

Dentaid wants to stops people resorting to desperate measures to end their dental pain like Claire Skipper (29) from Dewsbury who pulled out her own tooth with a pair of pliers in her garden shed.

“I’d been in absolute agony for weeks,” she said. “It was excruciating – worse than labour pains. I’d tried to get an NHS dentist but nowhere was taking on new patients so I couldn’t register. The only emergency clinic is in Bradford which costs a fortune to get to on public transport.  My dad was also suffering toothache so we arranged to meet in my garden shed at 3 in the morning, drank whisky and pulled our teeth out with pliers.  My dad managed to get his out but mine broke – the pain was indescribable.  It took me another week before I could finally get to see an emergency dentist who removed what was left. After all that I’m still not able to register with a dentist and I dread something going wrong with my teeth again. I can’t afford more than £30 a month to go on a private care plan – sometimes we don’t have enough money for the electricity meter.  That’s why I think this is such a great project. No-one in Britain in 2015 should have to resort to pulling out their own teeth and it’s fantastic that these dentists care enough to help.”