Crisis at Christmas 2017
Welcome back! We hope you’ve all had a happy and restful holiday. This Christmas we at SmileSoc spent our holiday in a very special way; members of the society donated their time to Crisis at Christmas, the annual event run by Crisis to come together and provide vital services to homeless people.
Photo: Labiba Al-Karauli
The aim of Crisis is to end homelessness for good. Along with providing food and warmth, one of the many services offered at Crisis at Christmas is a dental service, which aims to treat as many guests as possible to ensure they are free from dental discomfort over the holiday period.
Groundswell conducted research on the oral health of people experiencing homelessness and found that 90% had problems with their mouth and 70% had lost teeth since becoming homeless. One of the reasons for poorer oral health in people experiencing homelessness is limited access to dental services, so the Crisis at Christmas dental service is particularly significant as it provides treatment for people who would otherwise find it very difficult to access dental services.
As dental students, SmileSoc members were given the opportunity to work as receptionists for the dental service, as part of a team that included dental receptionists, nurses, hygienists, dentists and oral and maxillofacial consultants. Our roles included logging guests into the day list, completing medical and social histories and providing oral health promotion to the guests, who were then treated in one of two mobile dental units by volunteer dentists and dental professionals.
The days were long but talking to the guests and being able to help them made them immensely rewarding, and it was a pleasure working alongside such supportive and friendly people. In total the dental service saw 431 guests and performed 317 OHI's, 146 fluoride varnishes, 213 scale and polishes, 174 restorations and 129 extractions!
A massive thank you to the all the coordinators and volunteers for your hard work and enthusiasm. We look forward to working with Crisis again in the future!
https://www.crisis.org.uk/
http://groundswell.org.uk/what-we-do/peer-research/healthy-mouths
