Dentists on the streets – How we’re making a difference

Joint Event on 27^th EURO DENTISTRY CONGRESS & 27^th Global Summit Expo on DENTAL SCIENCE AND DENTAL PRACTICE

July 15-16, 2019 | London, UK

Rachel Dilley

Town Hall Dental, UK

Keynote: Dentist Case Rep

Abstract :

At our practice, Town Hall Dental in West Yorkshire, we’re committed to giving back to the community who have helped us reach the level we are at today. This community work led to our creating the Town Hall Foundation, the non-profit run by our practice that promotes oral health education in schools, supports the work of other charities and provides emergency dental care for the homeless and isolated.

For those on the streets, accessing a dentist and maintaining dental hygiene are massive issues, compounded by the fact that they are unable to access painkillers or finance any treatment. This creates a vicious cycle of issues requiring treatment, going untreated and then requiring further treatment. Most homeless on the street have less than £25 to their name, meaning they cannot even visit an NHS emergency dental practice.

At Town Hall Dental, our team work on the streets of West Yorkshire operating a mobile dental clinic for the homeless. Our dentists have seen hundreds of homeless individuals and treated a huge variety of problems. The work has been so successful we recently took our mobile clinic to Calais to help with the refugee crisis in North France.

As a team, we want to make a difference with our dentistry, but also with our compassion. Living on the streets can be a lonely and isolated environment, and without people to help and talk to it’s impossible to get your needs met. Building human connections through our dentistry and being able to put people on the right path to getting off the streets has been the difference between life and death in more than one case.

Biography :

Rachel has been a dental nurse for 25 years. She has a BTEC Diploma Level 3, NVQ Level 3 and advanced level apprenticeship in management. Rachel’s role is to make sure the efficient running of the practice on a day to day basis. She is also the business development manager and CQC lead. She enjoys her job very much and is always happy to help. Her ethos is to provide a patient centred dental practice creating a unique patient journey at Town Hall Dental. Rachel’s caring nature and outstanding excellence in patient care has recently gained her Practice Manager of the Year 2016 in the Towergate Care Awards.

E-mail: rachel@theroombrighouse.co.uk