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Free dental treatment that supports jobseekers in their quest for employment is also giving student dentists vital training in a scheme involving the Ingeus Working Well: Work and Health Programme (WWWHP) team in Manchester.
The initiative brings together people whose poor oral health causes acute pain, and saps their confidence in trying to secure work, with dental students finding it difficult to gain useful experience with patients.
Jobseekers who do not have access to NHS treatment and are unable to afford private alternatives are being referred by Ingeus caseworkers to the Roots to Dental (R2D) programme.
The WWWHP team was the first to offer participants access to R2D in partnership with the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) through its Working Well initiative. It has put forward 280 people for free dentistry such as routine check-ups, extractions, root canal work and dentures.
The work is carried out by students of the School of Dentistry at the University of Manchester, overseen by qualified dental tutors.
The impetus for the scheme, says Tom Britton who leads GMCA’s Working Well services, was research that highlighted health inequalities in the region such as:
He says: “The greatest success of R2D is the connection between work, health and skills in terms of addressing the dental needs of people, improving their prospects of getting and keeping jobs and growing our own dentists of the future. I’m not aware of anything similar elsewhere in the country.
“We are also alleviating pressure on an NHS dentistry system that is struggling.”
Among the first to benefit from the scheme was Ingeus WWWHP participant Julie. The 52-year-old single mum of three sons had been unemployed for more than a year after tendonitis in her arms meant she had to give up her work as a carer.
Her job search was made harder by a dental problem and lack of access to NHS treatment.
She says: “My teeth just started to fall out so I couldn’t eat solid food. I lost weight and I was in pain. I had zero confidence when it came to talking to people, meaning I thought I needed to avoid customer-facing jobs.
“I asked my WWWHP Ingeus keyworker Janice if she could help and she referred me to the Roots to Dental scheme.
“The students made me feel welcome and not uncomfortable about the way I looked. I had six teeth removed and a new set of dentures fitted.
“I used to cover my mouth when I spoke to people but the dental work gave me a lot more confidence when it came to speaking to people face-to-face, such as job interviews.”
Julie secured a position as a reablement support worker, helping people to regain their independence after leaving hospital, and says: “I don’t think I would ever have got my teeth fixed without Roots to Dental.”
Her new-found confidence meant she was able to attend a R2D celebration event sharing her story, prompting a letter of thanks from Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham who said her courage in coming forward was inspiring.
Praise for the role of the Ingeus team came from Sarah Hardman, a Directorate Manager at the University Dental Hospital, who says: “Their enthusiasm and support given to staff and students was invaluable, enabling the programme to be a success.”
Tom Britton adds: “The key to the success of the scheme has been the skill of caseworkers in identifying participants’ needs and supporting them to take up the R2D offer despite any anxieties they may have.”
Laura Rodger, Lead Senior Health Practitioner for Ingeus’ Greater Manchester WWWHP programme, says: “You can see the transformed demeanour and confidence of people who have been treated. Having all this expensive dental work done would be beyond the realms of possibility for most of our WWWHP participants, many of whom come from disadvantaged communities.”
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