Bupa Dental Care announce Dentaid as their official charity partner

Bupa Dental Care have chosen Dentaid as their official charity partner, and will support its UK work with a variety of fundraising initiatives Bupa Dental Care has chosen Dentaid as its official charity partner. Bupa dental practices will be supporting Dentaid’s UK and international work with a variety of fundraising and volunteering initiatives involving patients and employees. Speaking of the partnership, Gabriela Pueyo, General Manager at Bupa Dental Care said: “We’re really excited to begin our work with Dentaid and help support them to provide oral care for some of the most vulnerable people in our society. What makes this extra special is that we asked our employees to vote for which organisation they wanted to make our official charity partner and they overwhelmingly chose Dentaid.” Dentaid was formed in 1996 and has worked in more than 70 countries providing dental treatment, training, equipment donations and oral health education. The charity also has projects in the UK including a school’s programme and projects providing dental care for homeless and vulnerable people. With Bupa Dental Care’s support, Dentaid this week launched its second charity dental unit at the BDIA Showcase in Birmingham. The vehicle will visit homeless shelters, soup kitchens and day centres with teams of volunteers providing dental screening, emergency treatment and oral health advice for people who find it difficult to access dental care. Since Dentaid launched its first mobile dental unit in 2016, the charity has been travelling the country providing free treatment for many of the most vulnerable people in our society. In the first nine months of 2019, 475 homeless and hard –to-reach people have been seen in Dentaid clinics and the charity receives requests for new projects every week. The new unit will enable Dentaid to run more clinics with one vehicle stationed in the south of England and one in the north. Dentaid CEO Andy Evans said: “We know that 70 per cent of homeless people have experienced dental problems and thanks to our incredible volunteers we are in a unique position to help them. This is about breaking down barriers, helping people out of pain and restoring their self-confidence. We have regular clinics in Leeds, York, Winchester, Hampshire and Wiltshire but we know there are many other homeless communities that need our help and we’re looking forward to launching new projects thanks to our second dental unit.” In addition to supporting the new dental unit, Bupa Dental Care has also provided funding, via its apprenticeship levy, for Dentaid to hire an administration apprentice and made Dentaid the beneficiary of its Pennies scheme – a digital charity box available in Bupa Dental Care practices. Gabriela Pueyo continued: “As one of the largest dental providers, with more than 470 practices across the UK, we’re in a great position to provide volunteers for Dentaid’s mobile units as they travel across the country. We’re really proud to be able to support such an important organisation.”