Dr Roze & Associates Dental Clinic’s latest CSR initiative is improving the lives of Dubai’s residents and putting a permanent smile on their faces. Fair Care Dubai aims to support low income earners in the emirate by offering quality dental care.
Dr David Roze, Founder and Oral Surgeon, said: “Everyone deserves the very best dental care, but sadly not everybody can afford it. However, we strongly believe this should be the right of every human being and, as such, through Fair Care Dubai, we will shoulder 90% of the total cost of dental treatment and our doctors and nurses will all work absolutely free.”
The initiative is open to residents in the UAE who are earning a monthly salary of AED3,500 or less and agree to a holistic approach to their treatment. “The consultation is free, as is the first CT scan. Patients only need to pay for 10% of their treatment.
“This is not about seeing a patient just once, we will carry out whatever treatment is necessary, before sending them away happy and, most of all, with a smile on their face,” said Dr Roze.
Treatments can range from dental fillings, wisdom tooth removal and dental bone grafting to dental implants and orthodontics.
Oral disease is the most common disease in the UAE, followed by obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer and mental illness.
According to the Health Authority in Abu Dhabi (HAAD), 40% of oral health expenditure in the UAE is due to completely avoidable gum disease and tooth decay. Last year, one in five people in the Emirates suffered from gum disease, while tooth decay was a problem for 36% of residents.
Dentist visits, however, can be expensive and it is not uncommon to be faced with a bill of AED5,000 to fix a single tooth with implants or replacements.
“Knowing that dental problems can lead to serious general health and wellbeing issues, it is really important to help. When you cannot afford dental treatment very often we simply have to grin and bear it, although the pain in some cases must be excruciating. This naturally may lead to poor sleeping patterns and a chronic lack of concentration at work which could, in turn, lead to unnecessary accidents,” added Dr Roze.
Patients will be treated every Monday from 6pm to 8pm. And Dr Roze is hoping other clinics will join the initiative. He said: “Although this is an initiative that we have created, we have contacted other clinics to see if they would like to join us and there is strong interest out there. Two hours a week is nothing for our doctors and nurses, but it will go a long way to addressing oral health issues, improving the quality of life, of so many living and working in the emirate.”
The initiative is being launched during the 2017 Year of Giving, which was announced in December last year by UAE President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan.