Emergency dental care to be available Sundays

People forced to endure excruciating toothaches will no longer have to wait for dentists to open shop on Monday to receive treatment as a group of dentists will soon be offering organised emergency care on Sunday mornings.

“There is currently no State or private provision of emergency dental care in Malta on Sunday and we wanted to change that,” Daniel Cassar Darien, who is spearheading the initiative said.

Dentists receive calls from patients in pain requiring urgent treatment but with nowhere to go. Some people have even resorted to asking around on social media in a desperate attempt to find a dentist willing to treat them on a Sunday.

After discussing the issue, a small group of dentists decided to share their idea with the Malta Dental Association, which supported the initiative and made an internal call for those interested in joining the scheme. A total 36 dentists expressed interest and a roster was drawn up with one dentist on duty every week.

Dr Cassar Darien said that the most common emergencies requiring dental attention were either caused by trauma or else the result of an infection.

Abscesses and infections could be extremely painful, he said, with patients often...