Dental Aid Network is a registered charity that was founded in the summer of 2014 by a group of concerned dentists based in Glasgow, Scotland. They could see that whilst there were many humanitarian organisations providing medical aid globally there are very few that provide dental aid. They decided that they needed to provide dental relief to the less fortunate to help people live healthier lives. Two of the founders had previously travelled to Palestine on a dental aid mission with another charity and worked in conjunction with the Palestine Children's Relief fund to provide dental aid to orphan children in several areas of the West Bank. They experienced first hand the real need for this type of aid and their passion grew to continue with this work. As two of the members already had links and experience working in Palestine, it was decided that this would be the location for our first project.
Why is dental aid needed?
Dental decay is unfortunately a very common problem in the entire world. Even in developed countries such as the UK where there is relatively easy access to a dentist, many people still suffer from dental problems. If dental decay is left untreated it can eventually cause pain and possibly lead to an abscess. An abscess can be extremely painful and can give problems with eating, talking and sleeping. Everything in your body is linked together and many times when you have a problem in your mouth it can cause problems somewhere else in your body.
In parts of the world where poverty is greater many people simply cannot afford dental treatment that is if they even have access to a dentist. Also many people are not fully aware of how to best care for their teeth and mouth and also how to best prevent problems from occurring. These factors combined means that many people that live in poverty will suffer from dental problems which can lead to chronic toothache and will interfere with their life. Which is a bad thing
Our Aim
Our aim is to promote oral health for the impoverished around the world that cannot access dental care. We hope to achieve this through oral health education, prevention techniques and by providing simple restorative and emergency dental treatment.
The world is a big place with many people in need so it can be difficult to decide where we should go. We have ongoing projects in Palestine and Kashmir that we are hoping to further develop. Whilst our aim is to provide dental relief, many of the volunteers also make personal donation to local needy people whilst they are visiting.