Volunteers needed for Crisis

Dental volunteers are urgently needed to donate their services to help homeless people in London over the festive season as part of Crisis at Christmas, running from Friday, December 23 until Friday, December 30, 2011.

Up to nine temporary centres will be set up in London by Crisis, the national charity for single homeless people, as part of Crisis at Christmas. The centres will provide companionship and hot meals for homeless and vulnerably housed people as well as essential services like health checks, housing advice, training and further education opportunities.

Crisis is looking for dentists, dental nurses and hygienists to help run the dental service, to build on the success of 2009 when over 260 patients received dental treatment.

Mary Farnell first volunteered with her husband Alan in 2008 and the experience had a profound effect on them both.

She says: 'Volunteering for the dental service has been a great privilege, being probably the most professionally and emotionally rewarding experience of my entire year. Suddenly being released from the normal box of the dental surgery, the opportunity of being able to help people, knowing that we are offering a vital service to people who can find access to dentistry difficult, is immensely rewarding, emotionally if not financially. Losing the normal time constraints of the practice of dentistry allows the opportunity to chat to the guests and other volunteers, a truly rich experience.'