The Community Dental Service (CDS) is dedicated to providing dental care to vulnerable patient groups in society living with moderate to severe additional needs and are unable to receive dental care with a regular general dental practitioner.
The service operates across Cardiff and the Vale health board in both fixed and mobile clinics. We also provide a domiciliary service for those that are unable to travel to a dental practice or clinic due to additional needs.
Our clinics are different to high street dental practices in that we see patients on a referral basis only, which ensures they receive their treatment from the most appropriately trained member of staff and in the best clinic to suit their needs.
In addition, we provide a range of community-based preventative care through our national ‘Designed to Smile’ (D2S) programme, targeting areas with the highest levels of dental disease. This includes a fluoride application and tooth-brushing programme in schools for children up to 7 years of age, whilst our Gwên am Byth programme delivers oral health training for care and nursing staff in care homes, with the aim of improving knowledge and skills thus improving the oral health of residents. Training takes place in house and covers ‘core’ oral health training and ‘champion’ training.
The CDS also plays an important role in the further training of recently qualified dentists. Therefore, treatment may sometimes be provided by under supervision from more senior members of staff.