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A number of With You’s clients, who are in drug and alcohol recovery treatment, were experiencing severe pain from oral health problems caused by prolonged substance misuse. For these clients, the pain was becoming a barrier to their recovery journeys.
With You and North Somerset Council joined forces to deliver an innovative solution. Ringfenced Council funding to improve drug and alcohol treatment and recovery services was used to help the nine clients in urgent need of dental care.
Over the course of eight months, the nine clients visited Dental Spa 25 in Weston-super-Mare. This vital oral healthcare treatment included antibiotics for abscesses and infections, tooth extractions, and root canals. Some of these clients have now completed their treatment and others are in the final stages of receiving their dental work.
Councillor Jenna Ho Marris, North Somerset Council’s executive member for public health, said: “It is known that people who use drugs or alcohol are more likely to experience oral health problems. That's everything to do with your mouth, teeth and gums, so it affects how you eat, breathe and speak. These issues were having a significant negative impact on people’s physical and mental health and stopped them from getting the treatment they wanted and needed. In some cases, it was leading to increased drug use to self-manage the extreme pain they were experiencing.
“I am pleased that we’ve been able to support these people to continue their recovery journey. The results have exceeded what we hoped to achieve. As well as preventing people from returning to drug or alcohol use to self-medicate, it’s humbling to know that a relatively simple intervention may have helped to save someone’s life.”
Tracy*, who started drinking at the age of 15 to cope with the trauma she’d faced in earlier life – she was abused by her stepfather and beaten by her mother - said: “I used to drink a lot of red wine, and around ten years ago, all my gums swelled up. I went to a dentist and they told me I had gum disease, caused by my alcohol consumption and malnutrition. He told me that all my teeth would fall out, so I started to drink more heavily. It took me to a dark place.
“But then I found With You. I began a 12-week programme and that got me sober. Then around two years ago, some of my teeth started to come loose and they fell out. My gums used to bleed, and I’d get abscesses – it was so painful.
“Six teeth fell out within the space of a year and a half. It looked awful. I knew that I didn’t want to live like that, and at one point, my mind went to suicide. It’s really hard, because when you’ve been sober for months and then your teeth fall out, it really affects your mental health.”
“I tried looking for a dentist - I called everywhere, but nowhere was taking on new NHS patients and I couldn’t afford the work myself. I’d nearly given up hope, but then almost out of the blue, through the project, I was given a set of dentures.
“If it wasn’t for the dentures, I’d still be drinking, I know I would because I couldn’t cope with having no teeth, it’s so traumatic losing them. You go out and you smile and you talk to people, but it’s so hard when people stare at you. For me, this dental work has saved my life.
Gill Flanagan, Service Manager at With You in North Somerset, said: “A lot of the people we work with have trauma in their lives, and they use drugs or alcohol as a tool to cope with the pain, loss and grief that they’ve experienced.
“At With You, we support people to face this trauma in their own way so that they can begin their drug and alcohol recovery journeys. But as our clients started to reduce or stop their drug or alcohol use, they told us that their dental pain was preventing them from being where they wanted to be in their recovery. So we knew that if we were going to best support our clients, we needed to find a way to address their oral health issues.”
Josh*, another of the clients who has benefited from the dental work explains more. He says: “I was sexually assaulted by someone I was renting a room from a number of years ago. I didn’t go to the police, but I did start using heroin.
“A few years later, I was arrested for my drug use and went to rehab for three months. I knew I wanted to turn my life around.
“But I had seven teeth that were giving me a lot of pain. Because I’m an opiate addict, I can’t have any painkillers stronger than paracetamol, which only goes so far. I used to self-medicate with heroin because of how bad my tooth pain was, and after getting clean, there were times when I’d think ‘I could do with a bag of heroin now just to take the pain away’.
“I tried to get to an NHS dentist, but none are accepting new patients and the waiting lists are so long. And living on benefits, it’s impossible for me to pay for private dentist care.
“But then I was told that some funding had been found for me to have the dental work I needed done. Since then, I’ve had several root canals, and there’s been a real lack of pain. I’m so, so grateful.”
With You provides drug and alcohol treatment services to 1,000 adults across North Somerset and runs a number of recovery-focused services, including focus groups and post treatment check-ins. To access their services or find out more, call 01934 427940 or visit their website: www.wearewithyou.org.uk.
*Tracey and Josh are not the clients’ real names. Names have been changed to protect anonymity.