The Henry Bloom Noble Healthcare Trust has provided a grant for new facilities at the Community Dental Service in Westmoreland Road.

The Trust provided a grant of £33,000 to carry out building work which included taking down a wall to make a dedicated treatment room for wheelchair users.

Building work was carried out by Descon and Meditech supplied the equipment, with the grant covering all the works including plumbing, electrics and decorating and the provision of some new dental equipment.

The Community Dental Service looks to offer a high quality, preventative-focused dental care for patients who find it difficult to use general dental services.

Receiving roughly 1,000 referrals a year, their objective is to reduce inequalities in oral health and improve access to dental services to priority patient groups, vulnerable adults and children in the Isle of Man.

‘It’s all about equity of care’, said Beverley McClung, specialist in special care dentistry.

‘The service is a safety net for those with complex needs that other dentists can’t accommodate.

‘The new works have resulted in a light, bright space with plenty of room to move around and provide treatment, with the platform sitting in the middle. Everything moves around the patient, and the patient is at the centre of things here.’

It was Beverley who approached the Henry Bloom Noble Healthcare Trust for financial support to help her to provide the ‘best possible facilities for her patients’.

Talking about the new works, a spokesperson from the Community Dental Service said: ‘We already had the use of a Diaco dental chair, essentially a specially designed dental platform.

‘For this, patients can remain in their wheelchair which is wheeled onto the platform and the platform then lifts and tilts the chair, putting them into an ideal position to receive treatment.

‘However, the platform is bulky and there was no suitable room to put it in, so it had to be moved in and out of a storeroom whenever it was needed. This made it harder to arrange appointment times for patients.

‘As well as making it a much more pleasant and comfortable experience, the new treatment room also means that we can look after more patients here who would otherwise have had to go to Noble’s for their treatment.

‘In addition, the service also has a bariatric chair for patients who exceed the weight limit for standard dental chairs and which the platform can also accommodate.’

Malcolm Clague, a trustee of the Henry Bloom Noble Healthcare Trust, added: ‘The Trustees are very pleased to provide the funding for this project which makes dental care more accessible and comfortable for those unable to safely access the standard dental chair in use in dental surgeries around the island.

‘The Trustees were also impressed by the dedication and determination of the staff in driving their vision through, enabling them to fully meet the needs of this group of patients in a timely way within a warm and friendly environment.

‘We wish them well for the future.’